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VOYAGE 



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MEXICO AND HAVANNA: 



INCLUDING 



SOME GENERAL OBSERVATIONS 



THE UNITED STATES 







BY AN ITALIAN. 









PRINTED FOR THE AUTHOR BY C. VINTEN, 63 VESEY STREET. 



1841. 



Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1841, by 

CHARLES BARINETTI, 

in the clerk's office of the district of Louisiana. 



F I £l 3 
S 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER I. 

Commercial intercourse between the United States and the Republic 
of Mexico, at the present time — Voyage from New Orleans to 
Tampico — Tampico, and Federalism in that City — Journey to the 
City of Mexico, with remarks upon the social standing of the inha- 
bitants on the road Page 1. 

CHAPTER II. 

The city of Mexico — Mexican antiquities — Churches, promenades, 
climate and diseases of Mexico — Gambling there, in France and in 
the United States — Robberies and roads in the Republic of Mexico 
■ — Laxity of the Mexican authorities — An aid-de^camp of General 
Santa Anna tried, convicted and executed as a high-way robber — 
The Island of Cuba and Gen. Tacon. ........ 10 

CHAPTER III. 

Drunkenness in Mexico, with allusions to the United States — How 
Americans look upon France and other nations of Europe — Extracts 
from French works — Missions to convert France — Americans who 
visit Europe — Manners in the United States — Schools in Mexico- 
Public education and teachers in the United States — What parents 
do for their children — American Doctors — Making of a Professor 
in the college of Cincinnati — Woodward college in the same place 
—-Other remarks on teachers—How Europe stands in reference to 
sciences and arts.^ .......... 24 

CHAPTER IV. 

Duelling, races, and fires in Mexico — Conflagrations in the United 
States— The Mexican army, as it was and is — The Mexican Mu- 
seum — Lynch-law in reference to Gen. Santa Anna — Course of the 
American press towards Mexico — The expulsion of the French — 
Execution of Gen. Mejia — Antiquities of Mexico — Foreigners in 
the United States and Mexico — Speculations on American credu- 
lity — Two cases of professional imposition in Mexico. ... 46 



i* CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER V. 

Art9 in Mexico — Newspapers in that country and in the United 
States — Pamphlets — Religious papers — Prejudices and tolerance— 
The Catholic clergy in the United States — The Mexican clergy- 
Federalism vs. the clergy, or Generals Mejia, Urrea and Anaya — 
Abuses among that clergy, which demand reform — How the clergy 
of Mexico acted towards an American Catholic Bishop — Religious 
feelings of the Mexicans. • •*•»#*••»•••. 65 

CHAPTER VI. 

The President of the Republic of Mexico and Gen. Filisola — Public 
morality in that country — A Mexican minister to Prussia — Revolu- 
tionary events, and their effects on Mexico — Federalism and Fede- 
ralists — Errors in reference to the government of Mexico — The 
freedom of the press — Corruption — A contract for the government 
troops in Matamoras — Custom-house regulations— Smuggling — 
National debt of Mexico — Iturbide — Santa Anna at St. Jacinto and 
Vera Cruz — A false charge against Americans and Mexicans— 
Gen. Jackson's opinion of Santa Anna. ••»»...*. 77 

CHAPTER VII. 

What form of government would better suit the Mexicans — American 
aristocracy— Austrian government in Italy — Louis Philippe and the 
British government — Botta and the Italians — The Lombardo- Vene- 
tian kingdom — The Germans or the French mastering Italy — Visit 
of a foreign ambassador to the governor of one of the United States 
—Elections and institutions of this country — Elective franchise of 
aliens in the United States — Native American Society — The leaders 
of the late revolutions in Italy — Political character and other re- 
marks on the Italians — Italian refugees in France and England — 
The present system of Austria « * . « « 89 

CHAPTER VIII. 

Present resources of Mexico — Mexico versus Texas — What Texas is 
— Journey from the City of Mexico to Vera Cruz — Puebla.' — Gen. 
Urrea in the Castle of Perote — Jalapa — Vera Cruz — St. Juan de 
Ulua, and former opinion in regard to its strength— Gen. Rincon 
and the French storming — Conduct of the Mexican soldiery — Opi- 
nion of Col. Soto about Ulua — The force of prejudice — The Kon- 
tuckians — Wearing arms and its consequences — Erroneous notions 
on murders and murderers which prevail in some of the United 
States. •»..»*%..* * % 1Q5 



CONTENTS. t 

CHAPTER IX. 

-age from Vera Cruz to Havanna — Americans who winter there— 
Remarks on the physical constitution of the people of the United 
tates — Commerce in Havanna — Spanish troops in the island of 
Cuba — Its climate, diseases, and necessary precautions — Prince of 
Anglona, the present governor of that island — Police in Havanna— 
Houses there — Clergy — Lotteries — Steam Ships — Rail Roads — 
Manners. #».«..*«•*»»»...,' # 118 

CHAPTER X. 

Slavery in the United States — Abolition and abolitionists— Case of 
the Spanish schooner Amistad — Montez and Ruiz put into prison — 
Why the president of the United States did not interfere — Slavery 
in the island of Cuba — Difference of laws in reference to slaves 
between that island and the United States — The slave trade — The 
English pursuing slavers — The Spanish authorities in the island of 
Cuba, and the captains dealing with slaves — Voyage from Havanna 
to New-Orleans. »»».....»,».«., 124 



INTRODUCTION. 



The persuasion that Mexico has been, and is, too 
much misrepresented everywhere, but especially in the 
United States, has induced me, as far as I am capable, 
to depict that country in its true light, as regards its 
social, political and religious condition. 

Man is so constituted, that what surrounds him is not 
calculated to satisfy him ; he is, by instinct, attracted 
to the history of every age and nation, as if their times 
and deeds could serve as an appendage to his own life. 

There exists in us a natural anxiety for acquiring 
such notions, and we feel glad when we can obtain 
them ; although, such wrriters can do to us and to the 
cause of society as much good by being correct as 
they will do harm by being the contrary. 

There are travellers who will publish accounts of 
their voyages for the sake of making a display of their 
adventures, or with the view of awakening interest 
and sympathy in their readers. Others will go to a 
country with opinions and notions which they had 
espoused in advance, and will never fail to see things 
in perfect accordance with their preconceptions. — 



Vlll INTRODUCTION. 

Some for want of discrimination, and some prompted 
either from aversion or devotion to the political or 
religious institutions of a country, will confound things 
so much as to revert every observation to the central 
point of their starting. Others have been found in all 
ages amusing themselves by writing upon countries 
which they had never visited, as was lately the case 
with an American who published a work upon Italy 
without having ever seen the color of that land. Many 
will write on a country through which they journey 
without knowing a single word of its language, being 
thus deprived of the most essential medium through 
which they can obtain information and scrutinize the 
manners of a country. 

With or without permission I shall remark, that the 
English tourists are the curse of all countries, on ac- 
count of their fictitious productions. Impregnated with 
the conviction that there is nothing good upon earth out 
of England, every thing makes them sour, and they 
give vent to their spleen in imprecations. 

The United States have had their share of misreports 
from English pens. Some of the British writers on 
this country undertook to search with the most malig- 
nant disposition its faults — what nation, community qt 
individual has none ? — and collecting every thing which 
is bad have thus exhibited the Americans to the world ; 
as if only the faults, and not the virtues too, ought to be 
reviewed in order to fix a character upon a community. 



INTRODUCTION. IX 

So difficult is the task of travellers writing on foreign 
countries, or so many requisites are indispensable to 
make their works prove of any service, that at least 
nineteen out of twenty such books result in being 
worthless. 

Now, I have no pretension of being that exception 
which has so many probabilities against it. I mean, I 
am fully aware my work contains nothing to save it 
from the fate of the nineteen; although I had the 
advantage to see Mexico and Havanna in no way 
prepossessed. 

My readers will see I present them with a potion of 
compounded ingredients; there being the honey and 
the aloe, or the good and the bad. I may deceive 
them in the same way that a physician who does not 
well penetrate into the cause of his patient's disease 
deceives him ; that is to say, after having first deceived 
myself. 

It befel me, while writing, to enlarge upon the 
United States much more than I had at first designed ; 
and, as many observations or accounts on this country 
and others, though not intended to offend any body, 
will displease some people, I protest that I say nothing 
either in my general or personal allusions, which may 
be suggested by dislike, enmity, or a spirit of revenge. 
With many of the persons to whom I allude, I am 
happy to say, I never had any intercourse, while my 



X INTRODUCTION. 

acquaintance with the others was not of a nature to 
excite any bad or hostile feeling. 

As to the language of which 1 make use, there 
will appear a foreign construction 1 know ; I hope, 
however, that my being a stranger will serve as a 
passport to it. 

THE AUTHOR. 



CHAPTER I. 



Commercial intercourse between the United States and the Republic 
of Mexico, at the present time — Voyage from New Orleans to 
Tampico — Tampico, and Federalism in that City— Journey to the 
City of Mexico, with remarks upon the social standing of the inha- 
bitants on the road. 

Since the treaty entered into between Spain and Mexico, 
whereby this once her colony was acknowledged as an in- 
dependent nation, and their ports were reciprocally opened 
for trade, New-Orleans has lost almost entirely its commerce 
with the republic of Mexico. While, in former times, many 
vessels were to be found in New-Orleans, sailing weekly 
for Vera Cruz, and other Mexican ports, you do not now 
find there, in six months, a single vessel bound to Vera 
Cruz, and scarcely one in two months for Tampico, or any 
port of that republic. 

The Mexican merchants have turned to Havanna, where, 
they say, they find cheaper the articles they want to buy, 
chiefly dry goods;* and with whose people they have a com- 
mon origin and language; and where they do not see them- 
selves abused and trampled upon as, I do not hesitate to 
say, they are throughout the whole American union, "but 
much more so in New-Orleans, whose press cannot refrain 
from rushing, in every way, against Mexico and the Mexi- 
cans; whom they load with the most despicable epithets, 
whenever they happen to speak of, or make any allusion to 
them. 

Thus, after having long, and in vain, looked for a vessel 
going to Vera Cruz, I left New-Orleans on the twentieth 
of January last, for Tampico, on board the American schoon- 
er, Eliza Ann, Captain Clark, formerly of the Lone — the 
same, who, during the last blockade of the Mexican Ports, 

* Goods can be entered at the custom-house in Havanna for entre- 
pot, and, being exported, they are liable to only one per cent duty. 

B 



Z A VOYAGE TO 

having been taken out of Matamoros by a French man-of- 
war, with the assistance of the mate only, rescued the ves- 
sel, and carried the French officer and crew prisoners to 
New-Orleans. 

The passage was not a short one; still, the gentlemanly 
manners of the captain prevented tediousness, and made it 
prove very pleasant. 

On the evening of the twenty-seventh we had the pilot 
on board, and passed the bar of Tampico. Immediately 
after, a custom-house officer came to take the manifesto of 
the cargo, with the note of the passengres* trunks, and 
sealed the hatches. 

Although the distance from the bar to the city is not 
more than three leagues, contrary winds detained the 
schooner three days on her way up the river : during 
which time, the captain of the port sent twice an officer 
to caution Capt. Clark, not to suffer any of the passengers 
to land, until the vessel should be in front of Tampico. 

At that time, Matamoros was threatened by the Texo- 
Federalists, and I thought, at first, that such intimation 
derived from suspicion falling on some one of the passengers; 
yet, when it was our lot to get ashore, the only formality 
required was, to have the captain marching ahead of the 
passengers to the governor's house. 

How it happened, I could not explain ; but, we missed 
about half of our men on the way : the acting Governor, 
however, seemed by no means aware of the desertion 
which had taken place. He, hastily, overlooked our pass- 
ports and handed them immediately back to their bearers. 
Three Spaniards, deck-passengers, had no passport, and, 
on the simple saying of the captain that he had lost them, 
we were all dismissed. 

Now, considering the whole as a police-matter, they 
carried it on so imperfectly, as to render it utterly ridi- 
culous : no reason, nor excuse can be given for tantalizing 
passengers as they did, unless it be their system to make 
" much ado about nothing.' ' 

I was obliged to go through some formality to obtain 
my baggage ; but, they were very polite in visiting it. 

Some of my friends in New-Orleans who had favored 
me with letters of introduction, had told me that I should 
be forced upon accepting hospitality from the people in 
Tampico to whom they introduced me ; however, I can 
swear, that I escaped any such trouble ; and was very 
glad of it, as I happened to stop at a first-rate house, kept 
by Mr. Constant, a Swiss. 



MEXICO AND HAVANNA. J 

Tampico is a small, beautifully situated and rather fine 
looking place. It is worthy of notice as the second port 
of importance in the Republic, as, also, for its being, per- 
haps, the only new flourishing city in that country ; thus, 
forming there a wonder, what is a common-place sight 
through the United States. 

The merchants of Tampico are all foreigners. That 
place, in consequence of late events, is considered abroad, 
as the cradle of liberty in the Republic of Mexico, which 
is, nevertheless, a great mistake. 

I must confess, I have not much confidence in the po- 
litical creed of any busy community; but none at all in 
such a mixed heterogeneous one as that of Tampico, where 
you find together Germans, Spanish, French, Americans, 
and others, engaged in business. What now do Ame- 
ricans, French, Spanish, Germans, or others, care about 
the general prosperity of the Republic of Mexico ; of a 
country where they stand as mere transplanted and 
transient money-makers ] I venture to reply — nothing ; 
as we know unfortunately, but to well, how men, even in 
their native countries, are prone to postpone the general 
interest, to promoting their own. 

Tampico was twice the seat of Federalism ; which does not 
however, imply any idea of oppression from the present 
government. To understand well the matter, one has only 
to consider, that as soon as the Federalists hoisted their flag, 
no more custom-house duties were in existence. It is 
calculated, that goods to the amount of more than two mil- 
lions were introduced into Tampico, free of every duty. 
Would not the flag of Mahomet have been, in parity of 
circumstances, as welcome as that of Federalism % Would not 
London, Paris, New Orleans, St. Petersburgh, or any other 
city in the world, greet and cheer the standard under 
which they could, with impunity, smuggle goods to the 
amount of millions upon millions % Some will observe, 
that a country cannnot support itself without revenues, 
which are to a nation what the circulation of blood is to 
the life of man ; but, the merchants of Tampico are not 
lecturers on political economy, and they would be glad to 
supply with necessary means a new Mejia, because, they 
would not lose in the bargain ; nor, must we mistake com- 
mercial speculations for political events. 

A poor, very poor impression was made upon me by 
the soldiery I saw there. What a miserable spectacle ! 
all short men — all dark faces — or of the color which is 
contracted under the burning sun of the tropics ; and 

b2 



4 A VOYAGE TO 

which appears still darker, by the contrast of their white 
dresses. 

I consider myself bound to repeat here a strange, though 
common and notorious report in reference to the facility 
of "purposely losing vessels, either getting in or out the 
bar of Tampico. This seems, by no means, a mystery 
there. I must, however, be satisfied with giving a hint " to 
whom it may concern :" only adding that, if the accounts 
I heard are true to a word, it is long since that business 
has been carried on, and some one in Tampico has grown 
fat from it. 

I scarcely need notice that the climate there is extremely 
moist and hot. The yellow fever, which is called there, 
as in all Spanish places subject to the same disease, 
black vomit ; makes yearly a dreadful havoc amongst the 
new comers. 

Three days after my arrival in Tampico, I made my 
start for the City of Mexico, on horseback, armed cap- 
a-pie, and wearing, agreeably to the custom of the country, 
a large blanket with a hole in the middle of it, to have 
the head passed through, so as to make the blanket fall 
equally before and behind : indeed I presented a very 
ludicrous appearance. 

I left with some arrieros or carriers, who had to take 
care of my person and baggage ; but, as soon as I saw 
they performed daily not more than five or six leagues, 
and in the very hottest part of the day, I emancipated 
myself from their guardianship, and, in spite of the dangers 
which, they said, would attend my travelling alone on 
that road, I went on with the company only of my horse, 
arms, and thoughts. 

Some one will now, very likely, anticipate a sprightly 
and romantic exhibition of the fields, forests, mountains 
and sites, through which I passed ; but, they will be disap- 
pointed. I am a very poor hand for descriptions ; I shall, 
therefore, confine myself to say, that I found myself 
transported into a really new world, amidst a new vege- 
tation, having before me the lofty palm, the shadowy 
plantain, the dark orange, the delicate pine-apple and 
all the different tropical productions with which I presume 
my reader to be already well acquainted. There, at last, 
I found that America, which Europeans fancy to themselves, 
and for which I had looked in vain during my residence 
in the U. S.; where, the same vegetation, cultivation, 
productions, manners, dress, mode of living, and even faces 
are to be seen as in Europe* 



MEXICO AND HAVANNA. 5 

La Huazteca, the province through which I travelled before 
reaching the chain of mountains, is said to be the most 
fertile of all Mexico. I there saw people sowing corn 
on one side and reaping it on the opposite ; there, I saw 
the same tree bearing ripe fruits and new blossoms ; I 
saw, there, what nature is capable of doing by itself; but, 
I saw at the same time a country which could export 
plenty of many different products, scarcely supplying with 
bread, milk and fruits, its idle and wretched inhabitants ; 
who never extend their views or wishes beyond what is 
indispensible to sustain their animal life. 

A traveller must not expect to meet there with any 
accomodation. I had been favoured with the most minute 
sketch and details in reference to that journey, and so 
directed my riding as to stop where I could find the luxury 
of a table-bed, and light bread. What is easily to be 
obtained everywhere is, poultry, eggs, beans, milk and 
fruits. 

Amongst the greatest sufferings to which a stranger 
must submit in Mexico, there is the sight of the hands 
that prepare his meals ; but especially, the baking of the 
tortilla, or a kind of Indian-corn paste, which the Mexicans 
use instead of bread. There, the primitive and natural 
mode of transmitting eatables to the mouth through the 
fingers, has not undergone any change ; and I have to 
say, that, none should undertake such a journey, unless 
after having been, at least twice, at sea on board a 
merchantman. 

Thanks to a letter of introduction to the Archbishop of 
Mexico of which I was bearer, I found myself tolerably 
well sheltered and treated by the priests whom I happened 
to fall in with, on the road, and to whom I never failed 
to show the aforesaid letter. I was also hospitably and 
well entertained at a sugar-plantation belonging to Mr. 
Miguel Moi'itto, a Spaniard and a perfect gentleman. His 
plantation lies adjacent to an Indian village, called CoAa- 
kual* 

* For direction to those who might desire to know the places situa- 
ted on the road between Tampico and Mexico, I shall mention them, 
and add some remarks about them. Pueblo Viejo, the first village 
immediately beyond Tampico, is a dirty place : a countryman of mine 
keeps there something like a tavern, and knows how to empty the 
pockets of travellers and starve them. Tortuga and Organos are poor 
villages, where one must sleep on the floor, and an unequal one too. 
Ozulhuama looks pretty : I saw there the first Mexican church. The 
curate is a well-informed man. At Sta. Caterina there is a tolerably 
good house. Siete Palmas is a wretched Indian village. In Pastofia 

B 3 



6 A VOYAGE TO 

I often stopped at some Indian milpas, or huts, whose 
inmates I constantly found to be most excellent people. 
The ignorance amongst the inhabitants of the villages 
through which I journeyed, cannot be described. Those 
who are of European descent, or of mixed breed, call 
themselves gente de razon, (reasonable people) so as to let 
others suppose, that the Indians have no reason ; but in 
fact, the gente de razon are, in no respect, superior to the 
aborigines, except in mischievous propensities and deeds, 
such as cheating, robbing and murdering. Scarcely an 
instance is recorded of any criminal attempt by the Indians 
against travellers, and, to repeat what Mr. Morillo told me, 
he often sent through them large sums to some distant 
places, which he would never have trusted to any of the 
reasonable congregation. 

All Indians are catholics there ; they treat, however, the 
religion of Christ in a manner, which, somehow, approaches 
their ancient idolatry. A small altar with many images 
is unavoidably to be seen erected at the corner of their 
poor dwellings, before which, they are almost constantly 
praying, when not at work or asleep — and they sleep, I 
presume, fourteen or sixteen hours out of the twenty-four. 
I heard them even at night, praying loudly, as soon as 
they awoke, and continuing their lugubrious songs until 
they fell asleep again. 

A very strange thing on that way, is to see the people 
so unconscious of every event in connection with their 

travellers can be lodged at an Hacienda or farm, and find elsewhere 
something to eat. At Chicon, I met with a good-hearted Priest. Cai- 
ahual I have mentioned in the text. At Tlacolula a hard bed can be 
found. The Curate, who was at a loss in digesting the Latin letter 
I had for the Archbishop, is a money maker. At Pie de la cuesta there 
are excellent people, but a traveller will have again hard dreams. 
Zacualtipan has a meson or tavern ; yet I dislike the whole. St. Ber- 
nardo is a poor village ; but travellers meet there with the most hos- 
pitable treatment. Hacienda de Guadalupe offers middling accommo- 
dations. Totonilco el grande has a large meson; but if you do not 
agree before as to the fare, a nasty girl, conducting the kitchen on her 
own account, will charge two or three dollars for a couple of eggs and 
a dish of beans. This is the first place where the pulque is to be ob- 
tained. At Real del Monte, which is a mining place, a traveller will 
see many Englishmen and Americans. There is an English public- 
house. At St. Mateo el grande, a mattress and an excellent cup of 
chocolate (made by a girl who was educated in a convent) can be ob- 
tained. After a ride of twenty leagues from St. Mateo, one arrives at 
the capital. The road from Tampico to the city of Mexico, is called 
camino real, or royal road ; but it is as horrid as can be imagined : 
in many places I was obliged to walk, and had trouble enough to get 
along. 



MEXICO AND HAVANNA. 7 

political situation. When we read in Mexican or American 
papers " the Republic of Mexico at large longs for a 
change of Institutions or Government/ ' we read the specu- 
lations of those who choose to write so, and not of the 
parties concerned in the matter. The focus of the political 
contest is in the large cities, whilst the poor villages, 
the peasantry, and therefore the population at large have 
not the least notions about politics. I feel tempted to 
say, that a child ten years old in the United States, by dint of 
hearing so much talking on politics, knows more of the 
subject, than a whole Mexican village, its priest and al- 
calde included. Their sympathies, if they have any, is 
for the party which is favourably spoken of by their 
curates ; while their curates and magistrates themselves 
know nothing, even about facts which take place at a 
distance of some fifty or a hundred miles from them. 

I had already observed in Tampico, that the authorities 
were ignorant of a subject which was of some importance 
to them ; viz., where was at that time Gen. Anaya. They 
thought, he was at the head of the Texo-Federalists, who, 
then, intended to attack Matamoros, while I had seen him 
in New-Orleans and conversed with him the day before 
I left that City. 

The New-Orleans papers alluding to Gen. Anaya and 
speaking of him as being there, were brought by the 
Eliza Ann, and had been long before digested by the 
merchants ; yet the talented officers of the government 
in Tampico laboured under such a mistake. 

Now, in that part of the Republic through which I 
passed, the ignorance of the people went so far, as to 
make them believe that Gen. Anaya, or some other chief, 
was in, or blockading Tampico. Some Mexican traveller 
in jest, or designedly, had spread such a report among 
them, and they could hardly be convinced to the contrary. 
They, at last, credited my assertions, on the ground, that, 
as I said to them, being a stranger, I had no interest 
to induce them into error. 

Let us lay the blame where it rests — on the govern- 
ment. Can they not make provision for the conveyance 
of their paper the Diario del Gobierno, to the chief officers 
of the various districts'? What good do they expect to 
derive, by keeping up an unfounded excitement and alarm 
among whole populations, according to the good pleasure 
of every fool, or impostor ? In that part of the Mexican 
territory whereof I am speaking, I believe, they do not 
know even what a newspaper is. 



A VOYAGE TO 

Some of the places on that road were built by the Span- 
iards in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. They 
are all, however, in a state of decay, and exhibit a sad 
contrast with the many new cities and towns, which 
one sees springing up, as by enchantment, in every part 
of the United States. 

The abundance of game is wonderful there, and a 
traveller can, without much trouble, make an agreeable 
addition to his meals. 

From November to March, that part of the Country is 
infested by a very troublesome insect, a kind of crawling 
bug called garr'wpate. At the time I was there, every 
tree, shrub, leaf and blade of grass was overloaded with 
those animals. Climbing on man and horse, they lodge 
themselves in any part of the body, causing the most 
painful itching. The garrapate may be killed by a fric- 
tion' of tobacco and brandy ; an operation which must be 
promptly attended to in order to prevent a sore which 
causes pain for many days after. 

I was told a preservative against its biting; which is 
a' general friction of pure and good olive oil, putting into 
half a common glass of it two spoons full of alcali. I 
repeated it every three or four days, and found that the 
insect, intoxicated by the smell, became harmless and 
dropped at the slightest touching. I was, nevertheless, 
afraid to go out of the road 1 in pursuit of game, as it 
was the way to get covered with garrapates. The fancy 
took me once of killing" and cooking some parrots, which 
however, I did : not find very palatable. 

The question raised ; by some about, " whether medicine 
be more useful than prejudicial to the conservation of the 
human race, comparatively with a full reliance upon nature 
and its simple remedies/ ' is resolved by evidence in favour 
of the noble science, by journeying through that country. 

They have no physicians nor apothecaries, and, knowing 
the properties of different herbs, they are aware of sov- 
ereign remedies for certain diseases. They will be sure 
of healing punctures made by the most venomous reptiles, 
and, if what I heard is true, they cure even hydrophobia; 
but, they will never get rid of an intermitting fever ; 
while such fevers are so much prevalent in some places, most- 
ly inhabited by Indians, that from May to September, every 
one is taken sick: not to mention that, in case of any 
accident requiring the assistance of a surgeon, they can- 
not supply the deficiency, and are doomed therefore, either 
to be crippled all their life, or to die. In many of the 



MEXICO AND HAVANNA. 9 

places I have just alluded to, not a single old person is 
to be seen. 

I shall not let pass unnoticed the great difference which 
exists between the physical constitution of populations, 
which are but a few miles apart ; although it chiefly pro- 
ceeds from local causes. Here, one sees all ugly, dirty, 
monstrous, disgusting creatures, and there, the most hand- 
some, clean, robust and cheerful men as well as women. 
Such I particularly found them to be in Chicon. 

A sight which amazed me very much was that of wild 
beasts about the mountains, such as tigers and bears, making 
a hasty escape, at hearing the report of a gun or pistol. 

I met, on that road, with troops which were sent from 
Mexico to join Arista's army. I do not exaggerate when I 
say, there were as many women following the march 
as there were soldiers : a serious incumbrance, indeed, to 
military operations if they are admitted, as I have been 
told they are, even into the camp. 

It is, altogether, but justice to the Mexicans of that 
section of the country, when I say, that I received from 
both, the rich and the poor, the kindest hospitality. People 
are generally so moderate with their charges, that the trip 
from Tampico to the City of Mexico costs but very little. 
I saw in many instances (and we may judge men by such 
trifles) my hosts going out to buy milk, eggs, or any thing 
else I wanted, making me pay, exactly, what they had paid 
themselves. People there see but few foreigners ; they 
are inquisitive ; but at the same time, respectful ; the poor 
Indians, even too much so. 

I was eighteen days on the road, stopping one or two 
days, here and there, as it was useless to arrive at Mexico 
before my trunks could get there. Excepting at St. Mateo 
el chico where I did not see the usual goodness, none 
vexed or molested me, in spite of so many attempts made 
by the arrieros and other persons, to frighten me ; on the 
contrary, my arms joined to a long bearded face made many 
shy of me. It is not improbable those people who hesitated 
about receiving me at St. Mateo el chico were afraid of 
my warlike appearance. When I looked at myself hav- 
ing around me a quasi-arsenal of arms, I could not help 
thinking of Don Quixotte, and laughing. 

From the most renowned and rich temple of Nuestra 
Senora de Guadalupe, Our Lady of Guadalupe, Mexico 
displays a show of numberless glittering and magnificent 
steeples. A beautiful promenade leads to the city of 
Montezuma, 



10 A VOYAGE TO 

CHAPTER II. 

The city of Mexico — Mexican antiquities — Churches, promenades, 
climate and diseases of Mexico — Gambling there, in France and in 
the United States— Robberies and roads in the Republic of Mexico 
— Laxity of the Mexican authorities — An aid-de*camp of General 
Santa Anna tried, convicted and executed as a high-way robber — 
The Island of Cuba and Gen. Tacon. 

I entered the city, that Rome of the new world, with no 
less emotion than reverence. The first streets I rode 
through, were rather dirty and I perceived they were in- 
habited by poor people ; but I soon reached the fashionable 
quarters and took my lodgings at la Gran Sociedad. 

My first surprise in being there (let me avow my ignorance) 
was to see no water. I had a notion that the " American 
Venice" as they call Mexico, was still or at least partly, 
built on the water. I fancied gondolas, boats, and even 
some small vessels. I was then not aware of the many 
changes introduced by the Spanish government, among 
which there is the very expensive and judicious work, 
whereby they diverted the waters of the lake into a canal, 
to dry up and render productive the valley or table-land 
on which the City of Mexico is built.'* It is necessary 
to go a distance of nine miles from the city, to see the 
remaining part of the ancient lake of Tezcuco. To per- 
sons who like places surrounded by the aquatic element, 
as is the case with me, that unlooked for disappearance 
of the lakes must prove unpleasant. 

I delivered next day my introductions, and was pleased 
with the reception I met. The interior of the houses I 
found to be more Republican, that is say, more simple 
than in the United States, — expensive furniture, as it is 
every where to be seen among the high classes, here is 
quite uncommon, even among the purest Mexican aris- 
tocracy ; while their houses are, by no means, deficient 
either in neatness or in taste. 

The buildings there, are not as in the United States, 
intended merely for the builder's life. They are massive, 
solid and durable. On account of the earthquakes to which 
the city of Mexico is so often exposed, it would be foolish 
to build otherwise ; then, it is in accordance with the 
mode of building of the Spaniards. 

The streets are large, spacious, running from E. to W. 
and from N. to S. They are well paved, though not all 
clean ; on the contrary, in some parts of the city there 
is a pestilential smell caused by their not cleaning the 

* The valley of Mexico has a circumference of about 130 miles. 



MEXICO AND HAVANNA. 11 

canals. In a place less favoured by nature than Mexico, 
those standing rivulets would spread miasms into the atmos- 
phere and create diseases. The present city stands, partly, 
on the same spot, where the ancient city was ; but, strange 
as it may appear, not any standing monument or relic 
of the time of Montezuma is to be seen there, except 
the Mexican Calendar which is situated at one of the 
corners of the cathedral. What a pity, that in little more 
than three centuries they have destroyed every thing ! I 
am not the first to say, that, had any other nation discovered 
that interesting part of the Western Hemisphere, countless 
monuments would speak of past ages. Ignorance, avarice 
and superstition have done the mischief. 

It is well known that thousands and thousands of paint- 
ings, which served among the Mexicans as a medium to 
transmit the most prominent events of their times, were 
condemned to the flames, by a wild and fanatical phrensy. 
The Spaniards thus obstructed the way to obtain tradi- 
tional accounts of a great nation, whose history would have 
interested the whole world. The genius of many learned 
men from all countries, has been called into requisition, 
and, with their joint efforts, they have succeeded in tracing 
back so much of the Mexican history and antiquities, as 
to make us regret more and more the fatal work of de- 
struction. 

Idols and many other interesting pieces were employed 
to lay the foundation of the famous cathedral now in 
existence. 

To show how little they cared and do care about the 
monuments preceding the Spanish conquest, suffice it to 
say, that the calendar which I mentioned before, and of 
which enough has been said by many writers, represents 
only half of the year : now, if I have to credit the account 
given to me by an architect who has been in the service of 
the Mexican government, a similar large stone, showing the 
balance, is at the depth of from 10 to 12 feet below a pe- 
destal supporting a cross, close by the Cathedral. " With 
the trifling expense of 150 or 200 dollars," said the afore- 
mentioned gentleman, "the valuable piece could be extracted 
and the cross replaced where it lies." How can any one 
find proper words to blame such indolence ] 

What surpasses the power of description is the splendor, 
richness and magnificence of their numberless churches. 
They have not a St. Peter, nor the Duomo of Milan ; yet, 
I dare say, that in no other city can there be found a col- 
lection of so many gorgeous temples and cloisters. They 



12 A VOYAGE TO 

boast with justice of their cathedral, which has been 
minutely described by some travellers. 

I cannot forget a silly observation on the churches of 
Mexico which I read in an elementary book of geography 
generally used in the United States. The author, a Quaker 
I believe, says in it — " Who would exchange the humble 
meeting houses of our own country for those gorgeous 
edifices ] I should answer that, if it were possible, the 
author himself would immediately make the change. I 
grant, there is simplicity in the churches of the United 
States ; I say more — there is in some, taste, and in others, 
a well intentioned imitation of taste ; however, let the 
author be persuaded that, could the Americans barter 
their churches for those of Mexico, they would no longer 
go for simplicity. 

Such comparisons, which can only be suggested by a 
narrow minded observer, make a writer or teacher appear 
absurd ; while I intend to give, a little further on, my 
opinion about the propriety or impropriety of their having 
so many rich congregations. 

The palace of the great conqueror, Cortes, the captain 
who dared more than any man before or after him, stands 
at one side of the cathedral with many other ancient Spanish 
buildings, which will challenge many centuries yet to come. 

There is a beautiful alameda or public promenade within 
the city, around which, a stranger is, however, disgusted 
at seeing the same stagnant liquid composition exhaling 
infectious emanations, of which I have already spoken as 
existing elsewere in the city. The alameda is daily fre- 
quented, and rich carriages are to be seen there, although 
showing bad taste. What delights more a stranger, is to see 
people on horseback, for the pomp and richness of their 
shining saddles and bridles, as well as for their strength, 
if not grace, in mastering a horse. As a nation, I fully 
believe, that the Mexican is superior to any in skilfully 
managing the horse. Almost every Mexican will catch, 
while riding at full speed, even a six-pence on the ground 
without losing his equilibrium, besides performing many 
other deeds of dexterity for which the Arabs and Cossacks 
are renowned. 

Other promenades exist in and outside of the city, 
all very beautiful, and. if one pushes his riding to Chapul- 
tepec, the former country residence of the Spanish vice- 
kings, and it is said anciently one of Montezuma's country 
seats, he will be struck at beholding from a terrace around 
the palace, the imposing scenery of the whole valley of 



MEXICO AND HAVANNA. 13 

Mexico ; he will then see there some lofty majestic trees, 
which bear witness of many by-gone ages. 

A visit to the gleaming Sanctuary of Guadalupe will 
prove interesting, as also a ride to the Lake. The fishing 
of the Lake, as well as the hunting of wild ducks, which 
are there by thousands, is monopolized by people who 
pay a rent to the government. 

In the city of Mexico, no other fire is necessary to 
give warmth in winter than the rays of the sun ; no 
other relief is wanted in the season of heat, but the shade. 
The same garments which cover men in the dog-days, pro- 
tect them in January. This mildness and agreeableness 
of climate under the torrid zone, is the effect of several 
natural causes entirely unknown to the ancients, who 
believed it uninhabitable ; and not well understood by 
some moderns, by whom it is esteemed unfavourable to 
those who live in it. The purity of the atmosphere, the 
smaller obliquity of the solar rays, and the longer stay of 
this luminary upon the horizon in winter, in comparison 
with some other regions farther removed from the equator, 
concur to lessen the cold and to prevent all that horrid 
bleakness which disfigures the face of nature in other 
climes. During the winter, a serene sky and the natural 
delights of the country are enjoyed there, whilst, under 
the frigid, and even for the most part under the tem- 
perate zones, clouds rob man of the prospect of heaven, 
and the snows bury the beautiful productions of the earth. 
The plentiful showers which from May to September water 
the earth; the Popocatepetl and Iztaiuhuail lying near 
each other, perpetually covered with snow, but thirty-three 
miles distant from Mexico to the south-east, temper the 
atmosphere of the capital with a cool and pleasant breeze, 
and the shorter stay of the sun upon the horizon, compared 
with the circumstances of the temperate zones, transform 
the summer of that happy valley into a cool and cheerful 
spring. 

Every one is aware that there are in Mexico, at small in- 
tervals, cold, hot and temperate climates. The capital lies 
under a temperate clime. Tropical fruits abound there at 
any season of the year. European fruits grow also, but 
cannot stand comparison with the indigenous ones. Vege- 
tables of every kind are very cheap. The vine grows well 
in some part of that country and yields excellent wine. They 
have good poultry, meat and milk. Game and birds of the 
most handsome plumage are plenty there. Good drinking 
water is not abundant, as is generally the case in all America, 

c 



14 A VOYAGE TO 

at least comparatively with Europe. Their pulque, a fer- 
mented drink made from the maguey, or tree of Mexican 
aloe, some say, disgusts at first; but finally becomes agreea- 
ble to foreigners. For my part I found it a dreadfully stink- 
ing drink, and I think that even a residence of fifty years in 
Mexico would not reconcile me to it. Cattle is plenty and 
large in the republic of Mexico, but they have not good milch 
cows ; a common American cow will yield more milk than 
four Mexican cows together, which proceeds from their neg- 
ligence in improving their stock. Horses are small, but 
very fleet, and can resist fatigue. Any common horse there 
will perform daily sixty miles, and a good horse ninety or 
more, without having his bit taken off. He will travel thus, 
uninterruptedly, a distance of eight or nine hundred miles. 

Living at a hotel in the city of Mexico, costs as much as in 
New-Orleans, that is to say, from fifty to sixty dollars a month ; 
but a family or a few bachelors keeping house can live splen- 
didly at a moderate expense. 

People of a strong constitution alone, should think of ma- 
king the city of Mexico their permanent residence, not per- 
sons in delicate health. Its elastic and mild air must not 
make us forget that it is situated at an elevation of over seven 
thousand feet above the level of the sea, and that the air is so 
light and rarefied as to affect those accustomed to a lower 
atmosphere. Even robust people experience the inconven- 
ience of short and difficult respiration. It happened to me 
in going up some stairs or walking fast, to become all at 
once breathless and be obliged to gesticulate, in order to make 
people aware that they had to wait until I could recover my 
speaking power. 

The most common disease in the capital, I was told, is 
diarrhoea. In the hot countries they have intermitting fevers, 
spasms and consumption. The black vomit, which was not 
known in tha,t country before 1726, prevails on the coast of 
the Grulf of Mexico. In other parts, catarrhs, fluxes, pleuri- 
sies and acute fevers are very common. Besides these more 
frequent diseases, certain epidemical disorders arise at times, 
that seem in some degree periodical. The small-pox, which 
the Spanish conquerors imported there, and killed millions of 
Indians, appears very often in Mexico. At the time I was 
there, it made ravages among children and adults too, in the 
capital. I saw they took some measures to arrest the con- 
tagion ; but it seems they axe not very particular about the 
vaccination, while, as a physician told me, in that country 
people ought to be innoculated twice. 

A shocking sight in walking through the city of Mexico, is 



MEXICO AND HAVANNA. 15 

to behold so many ragged, half-naked and squalid looking 
people. They form, by far, the majority of the moving popu- 
lation, and I need not say that they are so, because they 
choose to be so. Amidst their plenteousness they care noth- 
ing about working ; thus the land of gold and silver is the 
land of rags and penury. There are, moreover, very many 
deformed and ugly people, which is chiefly accounted for 
from the confusion and intermixture of so many different 
races, as Indians, negroes, mulattoes, Creoles, whites and 
mestizos. Even among the higher classes such monstrous 
faces are to be seen as to frighten the looker on. 

Speaking of the women, I was too fresh from New-Or- 
leans and had my imagination too full of those perfect and 
fascinating beauties — real master-pieces of nature, that I 
never saw, en masse, elsewhere except there — to find the 
Mexican ladies handsome. I should say, I met with very 
few having any claim to beauty, and many, great many of 
the ugliest frontispieces on earth, chiefly disfigured by the 
small-pox. I borrow from a countryman of mine an excla- 
mation, which I found, at least partly, seasonable. He had 
been asked how he found the Mexican women. " Well/' 
said he, " let me see some women, for hitherto I have seen 
but females.' ' 

Women there generally enwrap their body and head with 
the mantilla so closely that nothing is to be seen of their face 
except the eyes and nose, under which, with the thumb and 
forefinger of their right hand they close the mantilla. 

I feel the seriousness of entering into higher and more im- 
portant subjects. I shall do my best to show the social, poli- 
tical and religious state of that country, as far as my short 
residence enabled me to make practical observations. 

The social condition of Mexico has been vouched by some 
travellers as being abominable. I shall not, for my part, rush 
indiscriminately against every thing which bears the Mexican 
stamp ; but, separating what is bad from what is good, I shall 
point at vice with regret ; nor shall I forget that we are all 
men, all equally subject to err, and that the duty of a Chris- 
tian is, to urge the conversion, not the damnation of the sinner. 

In that country I met with some of the best men I ever 
knew, and if generally speaking, people there are more giv- 
en up than in other countries to bad habits, that is accounted 
for from their laboring under the greatest of all misfortunes, 
viz : that of never having had a strong, firm and upright go- 
vernment. 

One of their most common vices is gambling ; the same 
propensity for that vice being prevalent in every part of the 

c 2 



16 A VOYAGE TO 

republic, and amongst all classes. It is a business for them, 
and they carry it on with a peerless impudence, especially at 
certain times of the year, which they call temptoradas. — 
In the capital they have the temporada de St. Agostina, 
which happens about the end of August, and lasts a month. 
Every city, town, or village has its temporada. Prominent 
houses are at that time places of rendezvous where a mo7ite 
is conducted with capital funds amounting to many hundred 
thousand dollars ; doubloons are then much in demand for 
gambling accommodation, and from their real value, sixteen 
dollars, they rise to seventeen. Many other mo7ttes on a 
smaller scale, are at the same time conducted here and there. 
I was not in any place during such open and general gam- 
bling ; but I purposely visited some private gambling-houses 
in Mexico and elsewhere, the existence of which is sufficient 
to demonstrate how, apart of the mentioned great temporary 
excitements, gambling is a daily business in that country. In 
such places you never fail seeing among the bankers some of 
those frightful faces which I noticed before and which make 
one shiver ? when after looking around, with a hollow voice, 
they ask if " all is ready." 

There, old and young, rich and poor, are to be seen pro- 
miscuously, all watching with feverish anxiety on the turning 
of the cards. When the card tells, the decision of the game 
is easily known by some low, indistinct utterance. It was at 
night that I experienced the greatest horror at beholding the 
dismal picture which surrounded me. A large crowd of men 
exhibiting alternately a pleasant or awkward figure was 
pressing so much a table loaded with gold and silver as to 
produce a shade in the outside of the circle. My heart sunk 
when I fancied that fathers and guardians were there jeopardi- 
zing the fortune and future prospects of their children and 
wards. The Mexicans are said to be famous for their self-com- 
mand in gambling ; I could, however, see very plainly their 
hearts heaving and their internal struggle, when fortune was 
repeatedly averse to them. 

I said before, that the rich are confounded with the poor; 
yet there are houses reserved to the highest classes, where 
none are admitted without an introduction. They are con- 
fident on their not being seen by every body — must I say all I 
— even ministers of the gospel are amidst the multitude in 
their holy dresses; while in the low houses artizans go to 
hazard on one or two cards the fruit of their hard labor, care- 
less if their wives be in distress or children crying at home for 
bread. There, in fine, young men scarcely fourteen or fif- 
teen years of age, throw themselves headlong in the career 
of dissipation and crime. I recollect having seen boys play- 



MEXICO AND HAVANNA. 17 

ing the fool in billiard-rooms to inveigle and cheat new-com- 
ers ; characters which came not new to me, but which I never 
saw before represented, except by men of a certain age, or 
by what the English call " men about town." 

Foreigners in Mexico become, alas ! with not many ex- 
ceptions, infected with the disease and very often ruin them- 
selves. 

Now, if we wish to search into the causes of such disor- 
ders, we shall find them in the non-execution of the laws. — 
Gambling has been the vice of all nations. The Mexicans 
do what was done not long ago throughout all Europe, what 
they at present openly do in Russia and England but espe- 
cially in London. 

There is no country, now-a-days, in the civilized world, 
which has not good laws ; the great difference consists in 
having them enforced or not ; now, the magistrates in the 
various Mexican places are responsible for the breach of the 
law against gambling. The keeping of the houses to which 
I referred is forbidden by the laws, and sometimes a new 
establishment of the kind will be put down ; which will occur 
when the owners forget anointing, or do not anoint enough 
with Mexican ointment the hands of the police officers ; for 
whenever such precaution is taken, every thing goes on 
smoothly, the officers themselves being among the most un- 
remitting customers. Can we now believe that the govern- 
ment is ignorant of the existence of such infamous houses ? 
I, for my part, cannot, and lay the whole blame upon it. 

Americans in reading these accounts will pity Mexico ; 
however, they have not much to boast on this head, because 
gambling is carried on, although with some difference as 
regards mode, pretty briskly and on a very large scale through 
the United States, where, they will gamble or bet at races, on 
elections, and, as I saw it noticed in some paper, even on the 
person who is more likely to be killed in a duel. I refer to 
American papers also, when I mention the black-legs regu- 
larly travelling on the western waters on professional tours 
alone, amounting to three thousand. In large, as well as in 
small places, gambling is the order of the day. The laws of 
the United States are severe against such offenders — true ; but 
cui bono ? if, in some measure, for the same causes attributed 
to the Mexicans, the hand of justice never reaches them, as 
alas ! it does not very often reach even the perpetrators of 
the most barbarous and shocking deeds of blood. 

Go on board a steamboat, and you will never fail seeing 
the printed " rules and regulations" amongst which, there is 
a paragraph concerning playing. " At ten o'clock," it will 

c Z 



18 A VOYAGE TO 

say, " games must stop, in order not to trouble passengers in 
their rest-hours, " but, the captain himself, and the clerk 
will be the first to gamble until twelve o'clock, or even until 
day-light. 

It is commonly asserted by the Americans, that, " corrupt- 
ed France* ' swarms with black-legs ; still, making the due 
distinction between playing for amusement and for money, 
or professionally, I class it as a gross error. Should I admit, 
which I do not, more disposition to sin among the French 
than the Americans, there is, in reference to most crimes a 
great contrast between the two countries ; I mean, here, the 
contrast in the way in which laws are enforced ; nor is it 
necessary to say whicli side has the advantage over the 
other. 

Distant countries are very often misunderstood, especially 
when a perverted and malignant spirit of religion poisons 
every thing which is connected with other creeds. I shall 
not make, in my work, many allusions to my native country. 
I cannot, however, omit saying here, that in the place where 
I resided, amidst a population of about sixty thousand inhabi- 
tants, I did not know of more than eight or ten persons who 
were in the habit of playing for money, and that, among 
themselves ; while in my long journeys through " degene- 
rated, effeminate Italy," or, as some frequently call it " the 
Romish Country," I never saw gambling in any way, preva- 
lent amongst the Italians. 

Let us go back to Mexico. Robberies are much spoken 
of, as frequently occurring in that country, and, although 
there is a great deal of exaggeration about such events ;■ 
although, for the reckless disregard for human life (which is 
among the most lamentable features of the American charac- 
ter) much less lives and property are lost there in one year, 
than in a single blowing up of a steamboat in the United States ; 
although it would be a new occurrence to see in Mexico two 
or three hundred passengers put in danger with part or all 
their respective property by a ruffian running expressly with 
the steamboat of which he is a captain, full against an oppo- 
sition-line steamboat, as it often happens in this country, 
without seeing such villians approaching, not a scaffold, but 
not even a gaol — it would be absurd to deny that robbery 
is among the most common occurrences in Mexico. Tra- 
velling there is dangerous ; ; besides they will steal, no matter 
what, as soon as a person diverts his attention from it, I was 
myself thus pillaged in detail of many trifles. 

High-way robberies take place rather often. It is how- 
ever, to be remarked that, out of ten such cases, the person 
who is plundered is accountable to himself for the occur- 



MEXICO AND HAVANNA. 19 

rence. Those who rob, are generally from the same places 
where a traveller stops ; they are always careful in examin- 
ing him and making inquiries about his destination and busi- 
ness. Whenever he is not cautious in properly evading such 
questions, his money or valuables, if he has any, will change, 
hands. 

Nothing is more curious than their mode of catching tra- 
vellers with the lazzo or a long rope, one end of which they 
fix at their saddle, the rest being rolled up on their right 
hand ; their skill in ensnaring cattle is then used against 
travellers. The Mexicans are so able in throwing the lazzo 
that, even at full speed they make it their choice to seize 
either the horse or the rider, who in both cases, is rudely 
thrown down. 

Unless resistance is opposed, it very seldom happens that 
high-way robbers kill or hurt any body. In most cases they 
strip the traveller and tie him naked to a tree, at a little dis- 
tance from the road, to give him chance to be heard and 
released by the passers-by. If such a compliment is paid to 
a stranger, he has trouble to escape starving, for there is in 
the Republic of Mexico, neither the plenty nor the good will 
of the United States, in helping the unfortunate who may be 
in need of bread or other necessaries of life. 

The state of the roads in a country is an infallible ther* 
mometer of its civilization. The Mexican roads do not say 
much in favor of the country ; still they have some and stages 
run there. The Spaniards, who have not many roads at 
home, did not care about making roads in the country whose 
riches they sucked. 

The stage plying between Mexico and Vera Cruz was in 
former times regularly plundered, at least once every trip : 
mark me ! although things on this quarter are still bad in 
Mexico, they have improved, and are not half as bad as they 
used to be. Stages have been robbed in the city itself, on 
their way between the stage-office and the gate ; nor is it 
many years ago when, in taking out the bags of money from 
the collector's house in the city of Mexico, and heaping them 
on the principal square, where the mules of the Canducta 
or transportation-line for money, were ranged in two files 
waiting to receive the tallcgas (bags containing 1500 dollars) 
on their back, though there was a crowd of people and a 
strong squadron surrounding the money, some rogues on 
horseback, on a given signal, rushed from different streets to 
the spot, overthrew the guards, and before the sentinels 
could recover from their shock and surprise, made their 
escape with a bag of money each. There was a time, and 
that not far back, when one could not walk at noon in the 



20 A VOYAGE TO 

alameda without some danger of surrendering to amateurs 
of jewelry and money his purse, breast-pin and watch. Since 
the last appointment of Gen. Filisola to the general com- 
mand of the capitol and province of Mexico, the stages are 
very seldom stopped, especially those running between 
Mexico and Vera Cruz. 

He provided for many military posts to be stationed on 
the road, and many months elapsed without any accident ; 
yet, just at the same time I was there, the Mexico and Vera 
Cruz stage was robbed twice in succession ; and a German 
brewer riding on horseback from Jalapa to Puebla was 
robbed and mortally wounded. The scoundrels were two ; 
he thought of resisting and would have given them a good 
lesson had not his double-barrelled gun missed fire : he put 
hands immediately to his sabre, but they were already upon 
him, and although he fought bravely he forfeited his life. 

There are certain situations in the republic of Mexico, 
in which are dens of thieves ; the worst however, is when a 
man has money in his house and the fact is known. He 
must be very cautious and well prepared for all events ; nor 
are even churches exempt from thefts, it frequently happen- 
ing that worshippers have their pockets emptied. 

What does the government do to suppress all such crimes % 
I mentioned before that robbers are reduced in number and 
audacity since a few years ; yet that does not excuse the 
authorities for the very many robberies which are still here 
and there committed, or for not punishing the criminals as by 
this means they enhance the perpetration of new offences. 
The laws condemn them ; however, either by intrigue, influ- 
ence or corruption, they escape their rigor ; and nothing is 
more contagious than a crime, when it is left unpunished. 

Ruffians have there many chances of avoiding punishment ; 
first, on account of the immense extent of the country, as 
well as for the poor manner in which the police is conducted ; 
then if a culprit is caught, he has the possibility either of 
bribing his judge, or making somehowhis escape from prison ; 
in case he is condemned and sent to the galleys, he will try 
there, and often succeed in freeing himself of his . fetters ; 
and at last when all such trials fail, he will have confi- 
dence in getting his pardon from the President. Take the 
Diairiodcl Gobierno, and you will see almost daily that " His 
Excellency was pleased to let loose one or more convicts" — 
why ; no body knows. 

There is ground indeed to wonder how the action of the 
laws being so paralized and scorned, there still remain, 



MEXICO AND HAVANNA. 21 

especially among the indigents who compose the mass of 
the population, persons bearing an unstained character. 

In looking over an official statistic of the offences which 
had been tried in a district of the republic, or a report to the 
minister of justice, I saw they had had in a certain lapse of 
time, one hundred and seven convicts ; eight of them were 
homicides, and seventeen for wounds inflicted : of the balance 
I did not take special notice ; but I could not believe my eyes 
at seeing the following remark at the bottom of the report. 
" On account of not having, as you know we have not, any safe 
place wherewith to secure convicts they are all at large, or 
wandering through the country." Was it not a curious 
statement. 

Not being liable to a chronological exposition of facts, I 
shall relate here another information which I obtained, 
whilst on my way from Mexico to Vera Cruz ; it will serve 
as an additional proof of the mismanagement of the Mexican 
authorities, in reference to vagabonds. Three dragoons 

who escorted me from to in talking about robbers, 

related the trouble they had experienced some time before 
in arresting a gang of thirty high-way robbers. Led by an 
able officer, they were mostly indebted to him for their suc- 
cess ; but soon after, Gen. Codallios the governor of Puebla, 
all at once released the prisoners. Since that event, as they 
said, they do not take it much to heart to put their life in jeo- 
pardy for nothing, and I think the dragoons are right. 

Here comes an account of a man of high standing, a Colonel 
in the army and aid-de-camp of Gen. Santa Anna, who pro- 
ved to be a high-way robber. Being at the head of a large 
band of ivorthy fellows, he was attentive in spying at the 
passport-office the movements of the persons more likely to 
travel with money, and availing himself of this knowledge, 
directed accordingly his men. His name was Janes. He 
had prospered in his achievements at large as well as in some 
couj)s-de-7nain in the capital. He had entered two monas- 
teries, and taken on himself the responsibility of safely em- 
ploying twenty or thirty thousand dollars, which he, as a 
business-man, thought improperly idle in the hands of the 
nuns. In the disguise of a priest he was an accomplice in 
robbing and assassinating Mr. Meret, the Swiss consul. He 
had been the principal in many a bloody concern ; but the 
cup was filled : God bid him appear before the tribunal of 
men. 

The trial of Col. Janes and some cf his accomplices proved 
long and difficult. It lasted about three years ; during which 
time many attempts were made to render the solution of the 
affair impossible. A sum of money was offered to destroy 



22 A VOYAGE TO 

the documents which had reference to the trial : a cup of 
poisoned chocolate was presented to the chief judge, a man 
whose name I am sorry I cannot mention here ; an honest 
incorruptible magistrate, such as are rarely to be found in 
that country. All his attempts, however, proved abortive. 
A sentence of death was pronounced against the prisoner. 

Gen. Sta. Anna, was at that time president fro tempore. 
The sentence had to. receive his confirmation ; but Sta. 
Anna hesitated in allowing the execution of his aid-de- 
camp. Now, some mystic and broken words had during 
the trial escaped from Colonel Janes : he had said, that the 
7nost was unknown ; he had spoken of highly important and 
unexpected revelations, and had frequently hinted that, if 
he should die, some body else would meet with the same 
fate. From all that, nothing positive transpired ; however, 
it was a general impression that the person refered to by 
Janes, was Sta. Anna himself, whose hesitation strengthened 
the suspicion against him ; but, what corroborated still more 
the impression that Sta. Anna, was a partner in the whole 
concern, was the perfect and pertinacious unconcernedness 
of the culprit, who, placed in so terrible a situation, ap- 
peared quite sure he would extricate himself from it. He 
went often so far as to give way to the most revengeful and 
atrocious threats against the courageous magistrate, who, 
heedless of dangers had caused the sentence of death to be 
pronounced. 

A great excitement prevailed on that occasion among the 
population. Sta. Anna began to feel uneasy and dreaded a 
reaction. He retired from the presidential chair, and his 
successor, Gen. Bravo (who was in office but a few days) 
confirmed the sentence. 

At last, to the great astonishment of the concerned party, 
and to the great satisfaction of the whole population, Col. 
Janes was executed. In July 1839 he closed his career of 
crimes, expiating on the scaffold his contempt of God and 
men. 

Whether Bustamente had or not any thing to do, as regards 
the confirmation of the sentence I do not know ; I am how- 
ever, inclined to believe he had not. 

President Bustamente is a perfect gentleman. I was 
pleased with his conversation and manners ; yet he will 
excuse me if I say he is not the man fit to save that decayed 
social machinery, he is too good natured ; he will resist 
complying with a request once, twice, and then he will grant 
any concession ; whilst in a country situated as Mexico, no 
mercy should be shown. 



MEXICO AND HAVANNA. 23 

Disregarding again chronological order, I shall, by way 
of comparison, carry my reader to Havanna and the island 
of Cuba. Only six years ago the whole island laboured under 
the same evils as the republic of Mexico does now. There 
was no where security : clerks going to collect were stopped 
at mid-day in the principal streets of Havanna and robbed 
of the money they carried : ladies under the same circum- 
stances had their jewelry, combs and handkerchiefs brutally 
pulled off: young men were stripped of their watches, money 
and cravats : no day passed without some theft, fight or 
murder. The negroes were among the most active crimi- 
nals. 

Gen. Tacon was sent in 1835 by the court of Spain as 
governor of that island. No sooner was he installed there, 
than he understood the situation of the island and its wants. 
As a true philosopher, he sought for proper remedies to 
restore tranquility and happiness. Stern, firm, upright and 
deaf to any influence whatever, he commenced his work of 
regeneration, and undauntedly overthrowing every thing 
which crossed his path, in less than three years, he made of 
the island of Cuba a new country. 

Many complaints were raised against him, all in reference 
to his severity, and some I have no doubt, rightly ; but none 
denouncing base, mean acts. Extrema mala, extrema rente- 
dia : considering the state in which Tacon found Cuba, any 
other course he had taken, would have resulted in an opiate 
— the disease would have remained. 

With clean hands and a soul superior to venality, he went 
for a radical cure, which could not be obtained except by 
extreme rigor. Some were wronged, I grant it ; this Tacon, 
however, though a great man, was — a man, which is equal to 
say, apt to be mistaken. I venture to advance that he never 
did wrong any body intentionally, or to gratify any dishonor- 
able feeling. When, after all, we look upon the total change 
that was operated in the social condition of that island, let 
us bless the hand which achieved the great work. In simi- 
lar cases the end justifies the means. 

A nobleman, a man of the highest character, and a deserv- 
ing companion of Col. Janes, had one hundred and fifty ne- 
groes, whom he owned or hired to rob and murder on his 
account. He had great influence, and used it to shield his 
slaves and save them, when they were caught, from the grasp 
of justice ; but Tacon arrived ; he did not pause a moment ; 
he looked into the matter, and as he could not do more, he 

banished the Marquis from the island of Cuba. 

Tacon was generous, unpretending and charitable ; he 



24 A VOYAGE TO 

was the protector of the weak against the strong : no high 
rank, nor female intercession, nor the treasures of Croesus 
would have made him deviate one inch from the line of strict 
justice which he had prescribed to himself; even his son, who 
once did not fulfil his duties as a public officer, was not 
spared by him. 

The wicked, frightened by the echo of the inexorable 
measures of Gen. Tacon, and trembling only at hearing his 
name pronounced, cleared away of themselves. The island 
of Cuba which had been, I believe in all times, the shelter of 
lawless runaways from all countries, who selected it as a new 
and safe field for their exploits, was freed of them. 

What Mexico wants is a Tacon. The appearance on its 
political stage of such a man, would soon revive its degene- 
rated and dejected body. 



CHAPTER III. 

Drunkenness in Mexico, with allusions to the United States — IIow 
Americans look upon France and other nations of Europe — Extracts 
from French works — Missions to convert France — Americans who 
visit Europe — Manners in the United States — Schools in Mex- 
ico — Public education and teachers in the United States — What 
parents do for their children — American doctors— Making of a pro- 
fessor in the college of Cincinnati — Woodward college in the same 
place — Other remarks on teachers — How Europe stands in reference 
to sciences and arts. 

Drunkenness is a common vice among the lower people 
in Mexico, though I believe not to the same extent as among 
the poor classes in the United States. The advantage they 
have over this country, is in reference to the higher classes. 
It is by no means uncommon to see Americans of high, and 
even of the highest character, addicted to intoxication. I 
recollect even some temperance society's members tipsy — at 
home ! Such disgusting excess is a stranger amongst educa- 
ted people in Mexico. Another offensive sight spared a tra- 
veller there, is chewing tobacco. 

Smoking is universal in Mexico. The fair sex have almost 
constantly a paper cigar in their mouth. 

The Mexicans dread the air so much that in entering their 
houses, one gets almost sick at being obliged to breathe a 
sultry and suffocating atmosphere. About their persons, 
generally, they are not very clean. They seldom wash their 



MEXICO AND HAVANNA. 25 

faces, for tliey say they will not expose themselves to catch 
cold! 

We all know that strangers gradually get into the habits of 
the people amongst whom they live. The most industrious 
people from Europe or the United States sink there, I was 
told, little by little, into a kind of torpor, and after a residence 
of a few years, there remains but a residual notion of their 
former energy. The climate has a mighty influence in such 
revolutions. I was not prepared, however, to see Europeans 
and much less Frenchmen, following the Mexican anti-wash- 
ing doctrine. 

I was often and very eagerly questioned about the domes- 
tic relations and manners of that country ; and before pro- 
ceeding to this subject, let me premise with a solemn decla- 
ration, that I take it in hand with the greatest repugnance, 
inasmuch as I shall be obliged to intermix some allusions 
to other countries. 

Who does not know the horrors that are heard in the 
United States, and read in the American prints, concerning 
the "infidels of France]" Mexico, my own country, and others 
are equally treated as regards the extent to which the faith 
and incumbent duties of marriage are respected. 

First, allow me to say, that such speakers or writers ought 
to blush mainly for themselves at what gratuitously, and often 
exultingly, they assert ; then let me say, that it is mostly in 
drawing parallels between protestant and catholic countries 
that they do so. Forgetful that in this very land, amongst 
their hearers or readers, there are people who have left in 
those countries mothers, sisters or daughters ; it is in the de- 
livery of sermons, or in the exhibition of religious works that 
some would-be supporters of Christianity, very unchristianly ', 
make the heart of a son, brother or father bleed. 

Whenever a writer corroborates the general impressions 
concerning the depravity going on in France, (I so fre- 
quently mention France, because that country is taken in 
the United States as the standard of all southern nations of 
Europe) they will never fail giving his accounts an insertion 
in their papers or periodical works ; but if any one attempts 
to disperse the clouds which hover over the social con- 
ditions of France, Italy, Spain or Portugal, his accounts will 
never be diffused ; while I need not say that the contrast be- 
tween different relators can alone enable distant nations to 
draw proper conclusions. 

I have seen some extracts from French productions, which 
breathe nothing else but malice. Mons. Parent Duchatelet 
a few years ago, and Mons. , of late, with the most 



gg A VOYAGE TO 

commendable public spirit, undertook to point out the vices 
prevalent in Paris. Duchatelet's work on the prostitution 
de la Ville de Paris, a large octavo volume, was intended to 
exhibit the conduct and condition of the wretched inmates of 
ill-famed houses ; and to point at the bad effects that, by their 
shameless proceeding, resulted to the public morals. The 
consequence of his philosophical undertaking was, that the 
police adopted certain measures, whereby there is now, in 
that respect, much less scandal in the capital of France in 
that, as Americans generally call it, " receptacle of all turpi- 
tudes/' than in New- York or Philadelphia. 

Some Americans will startle at what I have just said ; — 
however, let the sceptics go to Paris and be eye-witnesses of 
how things are there. 

Now, permit me to ask, is there any such work upon any 
city of the United States 1 if not, allow me to add that it is 
ungenerous to avail one's self of such notions to direct the 
attention of the Americans to the vices of the Parisians. 

I consider the United States not only a great, but a won- 
derful country ; such as has never been, and will, probably, 
never be seen again — springing up a giant whilst yet in 
its cradle. I admire the country and like the people ; still 
I would not see so many prejudices adopted, as if they were 
part of their creed, against other nations. The Americans 
want not to become great at the expense of others ; they are 
already so. As to the moral state of this country, it is alto- 
gether as good as that of any other ; I believe, however, they 
ought to set aside their presumption of their being far supe- 
rior to others in this respect. Shall I say all ? They are wont 
to say of themselves what other people think of themselves 
too ; but will never say, prefering to have it said by others. 

The word " presumption," which I have just used, will not 
be considered as misapplied, after I have made my readers 
acquainted with a piece, not of presumption, but of impu- 
dence, which occurred during my residence in Cincinnati. 

Such a one, I believe a reverend, called a meeting at a 
church, proclaiming to have some very important disclosures 
to make ; which consisted in drawing the picture of morality in 
France. He gave a truly dismal description of the state of 
society in that country : many a tear gushed from the eyes of 
the most sensitive part of his auditory, until at last he said 
" something must be done to save from eternal damnation 
France — thirty three millions of souls ! " Yes, yes, muttered 
some sobbingpersons, and a resolution was immediately pass- 
ed to send a missionary to convert France ! ! ! Some pecuniary 
means were wanted to enable the missionary to start for Paris, 



MEXICO AND HAVANNA. 27 

tlie most gangrenous part of that country. A subscription was 
opened and money collected. Some, I imagine, will be anx- 
ious to know ivho was to be sent on such a mission ; and they 
will, perhaps, smile when informed that the very person who 
called the meeting and offered the resolution was the man. 
I should like myself to know how far he went with his noble 
undertaking, although I expect he is dividing his time be- 
tween making converts and writing a treatise on Christian 
humility. 

After giving place to the above account, I feel it my duty 
to add, that the " Cincinnati Whig/' a spirited paper, then 
edited by Col. Conover, a gentleman of liberal principles, 
commented next day the whole matter, and called it a shame- 
ful humbug. 

I cannot refrain from noticing here the missionaries who 
are sent to Europe by the American temperance societies. ' 
I read the report, sent by some of them, who through Gen. 
Cass, the American minister in Paris, were admitted to the 
presence of Louis Phillippe and the Duke of Orleans. The 
king told them that France could never do without wine, 
since from seven to eight millions, in one way or another, live 
there by that trade. The hereditary prince consoled them 
much better by assuring them that he approved of their prin- 
ciples, and never drank wine unless mixed with water. I 
have not the least doubt that, if they went farther, inculcating 
temperance, they must have been mistaken for charlatans ; 
or if they met with somebody acquainted with the United 
States, they must have been advised to go home and see if 
they could not do better service to their cause in their own 
country ; where there are, at least, ten drunkards to one in 
France. 

What shall I say now, of certain American papers, which 
for their reputation and standing ought to have better notions 
and profess more liberal maxims when they make sharp re- 
marks, or openly and highly condemn the Americans who 
visit Europe % " Such visiters/' they say, " get the contagion 
of the depraved old world ; they assume the bad habits of 
France, Italy or other countries, and coming home they spoil 
the pure manners of their native land." Is there not in all 
that something still worse than presumption % 

Such people, blind with the persuasion that morality has 
deserted the seat of their fathers to settle amongst them — 
pigmies, who to show that they are something like men, have 
no other means but howling — fools, that to make an easy im- 
pression and win popularity, study any way to flatter the 
already too much exalted feelings of the Americans ; such 
d 2 



28 A VOYAGE TO 

people I say, take upon themselves excommunicating at once 
all Europe and Europeans ; not remembering that from there 
their fathers brought here the seeds of their present condi- 
tion and moral standing. 

Were I not strongly impressed that the principal reason 
for which most Americans blame their fellow-citizens visiting 
Europe is, that they cannot do the same, I would take argu- 
ment from the very immorality of such reasoning, and advise 
them to go themselves to Europe, where, provided they be 
assisted by the same discrimination which is everywhere, 
even in the United States, necessary to avoid the evil and 
follow the good, they will improve both their head and their 
heart. 

Can any man show to me an American paper not contain- 
ing accounts of forgeries, robberies, duels, murders or mys- 
terious disappearances of public officers, clerks, cashiers of 
banks or other persons, who, as they will say " after having 
borne an unimpeachable character" turned out defaulters, 
runaways, &c. ] If all crimes which are perpetrated in the 
United States by persons of high character should be punish- 
ed, I am at a loss to guess which class would send more 
boarders to the penitentiaries. Money is power everywhere ; 
however, nowhere V argent fait tout as in this country, and 
as some will suppose I go rather too far, I shall quote an 
editorial article " upon the progress of crime in the United 
States," which I have now before me. 

" We may disguise it from others" says it, " but we cannot 
from ourselves, that crime increases to a very frightful de- 
gree in our country ; and the worst feature is, that the crimi- 
nals are not persons of low birth, and destitute of education 
and good example, but rather, on the contrary, priding them- 
selves in their intelligence and respectability. He who steals 
but five thousand dollars," says the same paper, " is a mean, 
pitiful, petty-larceny-knave, who ought to dig stone in Black- 
well's island without commisseration ; but he who robs to 
the amount of one hundred thousand dollars is a clever fel- 
low — he shakes hands with one gentleman, bows to another, 
talks politics to a third, and loans a fourth .a part of his 
plunder. When the gentleman-thief is discovered, he finds 
friends, ample bail, makes a compromise with his sufferers, 
his crime is imputed to unsuccessful speculations, and he 
escapes the law." 

When Americans speak of Europe, they lay a stress chiefly 
on the playing false of the French, Italians and others ; — 
however, I know myself some occurrences of the kind hap- 
pened here in " high life" having been instantly stifled* while 



MEXICO AND HAVANNA. §9 

& mere suspicion falling in " middle life" has been enough to 
keep off from society the poor suspected and often innocent 
person. 

If I were writing exclusively on the United States, I would 
have a boundless field to expatiate upon, and by enrolling 
comparisons in the way of facts, between the United States 
and other countries, I could very likely succeed in proving 
that every one has its right and wrong side. I shall, how- 
ever, confine myself to saying that there are sinners every- 
where ; that the dread of public opinion imposes here the 
necessity of carefully concealing some faults which are look- 
ed upon with too much indifference in other countries ; while 
great people should never forget that if we must riot rely 
upon appearances, we cannot condemn the respect which is 
paid to them. 

I heard some contending that the only difference between 
the United States and Mexico or some countries of Europe, 
as regards breach of conjugal faith, consists in the mode not 
in the substance. I shall grant nevertheless, that either for 
the obligation under which they are of keeping up appear- 
ances, or for the existence of more virtue, marriage is a 
much more sacred tie amongst the Americans than amongst 
other nations. I shall push my argument so far as to say 
that an American house may be the model of almost all 
houses and families, in the midst of which a general and 
uniform quietness reigns ; while elsewhere every family or 
house will present different pictures, wherein scenes of vir- 
tue and happiness will be offered to the view alternately, 
with a display of vice and despondency. 

So far all is good. I would ask now if Americans can 
stand comparison with other nations, as regards natural affec- 
tion, or that overflowing of warm, tender, passionate feeling 
which is so commonly exhibited elsewhere between rela- 
tives. A child in Europe will return affection approaching 
adoration to his parents, who live only with the life of their 
children. A brother there is a dear companion and protector 
of his sister ; he would a hundred times jeopard his Very 
existence in her behalf, while she anticipates every word, 
thought, or act intended to show her fondness for him. — 
Such brothers and sisters with whom " corrupted France 
and Italy" swarm, would very often indeed be mistaken for 
ardent lovers iii the United States. 

I shall not speak the language of an intelligent young lady, 

Miss W , of Cincinnati, who told me that "Americans 

know not what brotherly or sisterly love is ;" but I shall say, 
that such affections in this country are pale and speechless ; 

d 3 



30 A VOYAGE TO 

it being well understood that I speak in general, there exist- 
ing many most beautiful exceptions. 

Twice I happened to see a member of a family reach 
home after an absence of eight or ten years — how do you 
do ] — well, and you % — very well — are they all well at home ? 
yes : a shaking of hands with father, mother, brothers and 
sisters constituted the whole poetry of the meeting. 

I witnessed once on board a steamboat two brothers who 
in conversing recognized each other. One of them had left 
home very young, and learnt from the other that their father 
had departed this life— -I shall not say more of them. 

A New-Englander fifteen years of age, or soon after, hav- 
ing finished his education, will leave just the same as a trav- 
eller separates himself from fellow-travellers, whom he hap- 
pened to meet with in a stage or steamboat. The youth 
full of schemes and hopes will go a couple of thousand miles, 
then stop, then move and stop and move again until he 
makes his fortune. 

By that time, supposing our man to be from Boston, he 
will go home, and as during his absence he never corres- 
ponded with his family, he will stop at the Tremont House 
or at the City Hotel and next day will go calmly and see who 
of his family is left and who is gone. Exaggerated as this pic- 
ture may appear, it is by no means so. I asked once of an 
old lady living now in Indiana, Mrs. V , how many chil- 
dren she had. "I do not know exactly, I have them scat- 
tered in every direction, and have not heard of some of them 
for a long time ;" was her reply. 

If my dear mother hears of this fact I am sure she will 
not believe me. For the rest, the coldness I have noticed is 
the result of their natural disposition, and much more so of 
their system of education. 

In that part of the United States which is so much abused 
by the eastern people, I was highly pleased at seeing much 
warmer feelings entertained between kins-folk, as well as 
between friends. Absence of vice makes good society; but 
of a stiff, wan, barren and somehow repulsive goodness, if 
there is at the same time absence of virtue. Such is, accord- 
ing to my impression, society in the eastern States ; and 
though I do not pretend to decide what is substantially bet- 
ter, give me a southern man— -his warm hand shaking mine 
will give me to understand that his heart is not "rustily lying 
in its cell" and beating onjy as a machine to propel the blood 
into the veins. 

After all that, I conceive there was no use for me go as 
far as I have done with this subject. Philosophers will not 



MEXICO AND HAVAXNA. 31 

require me to say that there is a compensation in every 
thing, while those who think Europe " extremely low in 
morals" will laugh at my efforts to defend that curious part 
of the world.* 

I wish moreover to be understood, that what I have said 
in behalf of France and other European nations, is in part to 
be applied to the state of the Mexican society, which is not 
so wretched as it is thought abroad. The worst of it is, the 
many mock marriages they have among all classes, which are 
but occasional and highly censured. The Mexicans call 
such unions, marriages "behind the church;" which tolerated 
or nearly publicly acknowledged as they are, tend to under- 
mine the very social edifice. 

I am giving now my views about public education in 
Mexico. The mass of the people there have no means of 
learning, and are totally ignorant. I remarked in the cities 
a small number of private schools. The Mexicans are gen- 
erally careless of giving any education to their children, 
with the exception of those who are brought up to fill some 
high station in life. The boundary mostly assigned to the 
scholastic pursuits of the Mexican youth is reading, writing 
and making accounts. I shall not let pass unnoticed some 
good schools they have in the capital ; one the Mineria, to 

* In conversing on the subject of " natural affections" in this coun- 
try, or better to say in reading over this part of my conclusions to the 
venerable Mr. Duponceau, of Philadelphia, I found I was greatly at 
variance with him, as well as with an English physician, who happen- 
ed to be present at the conversation. 

Mr. Duponceau's opinion" is, that such feelings of which I have 
judged the Americans in general deficient, are prevalent as much 
here as anywhere else. "The only difference" says he, "between 
the North Americans and the Europeans or the southern people of the 
United States, consists in the viay whereby such affections are made 
evident. Amongst the first, though solid and fixed in the farthest re- 
cess of their heart, they are concentrated and unfolded ; whilst among 
the others they are unclosed and expansive ! Affection in the Ameri- 
can people shows itself more in facts than in words." 

I did not reside long enough in England or any other of the north- 
ern countries of Europe, to feel safe in ascertaining that there exist 
natural affections as much as in the northern States of the American 
Union ; without there being that curtain which, according to the im- 
pressions of Mr. Duponceau, conceals them ; but I say conceals with 
them the only beautiful colors which animate the picture of our short, 
flying, and too often bitter existence. 

It is unnecessary for me to say, that in quoting (with his permis- 
sion) the opinion of Mr. Duponceau, I am very glad to compromise my 
notions on this head after the authority of such a man as he. I do so 
then with the greatest satisfaction, for I do not know what I should 
lose even if I happen to follow one of FilangerVs doctrines, which was 
" to believe men better than they are." 



B2 A VOYAGE TO 

instruct artisans* is well conducted and useful to the country. 
They have a good military academy. Young ladies are gen* 
erally educated by nuns. 

I visited the two above-mentioned institutions, and was 
Very much pleased with them. I then went to visit a college 
for young men, whose principal was an Indian. A very 
strange occurrence happened, which although not worth the 
trouble of being placed before my reader, left me under the 
impression that he may teach well literature or sciences, but 
will hardly make his pupil proficient in politeness. I must 
add now that it was the only incident of the kind ; for I went 
nowhere in the city of Mexico, without finding the people as 
polite as eager in showing me every thing. 

When the Mexicans wish to confer upon their children the 
benefit of a thorough education, they send them to Europe : 
however, as they have among them some very profound 
scholars, as well as scientific men, they could very easily 
make Up at least one or two first rate institutions at home ; 
and I wonder they do not think of so important a matter, nor 
of erecting common elementary schools through their wide 
country. 

Some say that the clergy, who really have an influence in 
the affairs of that country, fearing to spread light, are the 
cause of the prevailing darkness ; I am however, inclined to 
believe that it is an inexcusable apathy on the part of the 
government, and of the nation which holds the people in such 
a disgraceful state of ignorance. 

What an enormous difference between Mexico and the 
United States ! Here they have""some good fountains of 
learning : they have institutions, which, save certain dispari- 
ties between old institutions and schools of an infant country 
- — disparities which time alone can efface- — bid defiance to 
Europe. 

Mexico will be laid aside for the moment, as I am going 
to dwell on the state of public education in the United 
States. 

Owing to that national pride which is common to all peo- 
ple, but must be much more excusable in the Americans, for 
their rapid and wonderful progress in the' path of civilization, 
they think their system of education is the ne j)lus ultra of 
perfection ; and though I am aware that many a one will 
sneer, supposing that I intend to contradict it, that will not 
preclude me from saying what I am able by experience to 
Say. 

Although I was not raised for giving instruction, circum- 
stances compelled me to do so in the United States ; * whereby 



MEXICO AND HAVANNA. 33 

I had a good opportunity to look into the matter. I shall 
notice a series of facts which happened under my observa- 
tion, and I hope I shall not in so doing be taken for a slan- 
derer — a slanderer is the man who condemns indistinctly 
every thing : that I know is not among my faults. 

I have already granted that there are institutions which 
do honor to the United States. The West Point military 
academy, Cambridge and Yale universities, and St. Louis 
college are not only favourably known through this country, 
but elsewhere. There, as in the " old world," every branch 
of learning is taught by separate and well qualified instruc- 
tors * 

In Europe a man spends all his life in enabling himself to 
teach a single branch of learning ; and though well informed 
in others he would never teach but one. 

In the United States on the contrary, old and young, males 
and females, teach English, Latin, Greek, French and Span- 
ish ; then drawing, History, Theology, Chemistry, Algebra, 
Geometry and Astronomy. This wholesale instruction is 
given by one teacher to as many pupils as he or she can en- 
list — sometimes 100 or 150. 

It is chiefly in the western, middle and southern States 
that there does not exist in any other line more "humbug" 
than in the teaching line. 

Were it not for a sense of regard towards a teacher with 
whom I am somewhat intimate, I could amuse my readers 
by presenting them with his prospectus for a female acade- 
my — a most ludicrous piece, wherein he professes to teach, 
besides other branches, Logic, Philology, Philosophy, Phi- 
losophy of the History, French, Italian and Spanish Classics 
and Poets ! ! ! The whole to be taught, says he, in four years, 
and in certain cases in less time. 

We dull ignorant Europeans cannot comprehend such 
wonders — but I shall give some further illustrations about 
teachers and teaching. 

I recollect when I was honored by a gentlemen of the 

* Besides these institutions, there are some others well conducted ; 
and others enjoying a popularity which is altogether usurped ; but 
none I believe is more famed as a provoking imposition than the 
celebrated Choctaw Indian academy, placed by an act of Congress 
under the care of the present vice-president of the United States. — 
The wretched academicians, half naked, act in and outside the White 
Sulphur Springs, Kentucky, as mere servants ; and are by no means 
better treated than negroes. I said enough of them long ago in a let- 
ter which was published in many papers. After so many injuries 
done to the poor Indians, they are shown the door of a pseudo-school, 
and then shamefully "humbugged." 



34 a voyage to 

highest respectability in Kentucky, with an invitation to 
teach his children, with some of his neighbours, (he lives in 
the country) provided I undertook to instruct them in Latin, 
Greek, Spanish and French, Geography, Natural Philosophy 
and Mathematics. I took the invitation as a highly nattering 
and undeserved compliment, as I told him in my reply, re- 
gretting that I was not one of those walking universities so 
easily to be met with in this country. 

How the poor pupils, sometimes eight or ten years of age, 
and seldom beyond fifteen, are not crushed under such a bulk 
of matter, must seem wonderful to the uninitiated in the mys- 
teries of teaching ; inasmuch as girls never fail taking music 
lessons ;* they will however recorapose themselves when in- 
formed that it happens with such teachers what occurs with 
restaurateurs a la carte, if one goes late to take his dinner : on 
his calling for dishes which are put down in the list before 
him, he constantly receives from the waiter the same monot- 
onous reply, there is no more of it ; and after having delight- 
ed in many delicacies, he is fortunate enough if he escapes 
starvation. Of so many things promised in this country by 
teachers to pupils, nothing is complied with. Were it not 
so they would cause madness, not to tender young people 
on the first unfolding of their mental faculties, but to grown 
persons already accustomed to a steady application of mind. 

Girls are graduated ! ! ! let Europeans laugh as they please, 
1 am not in jest — girls take their degrees, after going post- 
haste through their encyclopedical education. 

At the end of the session, or of the year, an examination 
takes place. I attended once a female academy examina- 
tion, which went on parrot-like principles. The teacher 
would ask of a pupil "is it not the earth which revolves in 
its orbit around the sun ?" "Yes," will reply the candidate to 
bachelorship, "it is the earth which," &c. &c. &c. — the audi- 
tory bursts into acclamations ; a piece extolling the interest- 
ing affair (in many instances written by the teacher himself) 
appears next day in some of the leading papers, and the vani- 
ty of both parents and pupils is fully satisfied; while the poor 
graduates could very often take by the hand their professors, 
and get together some lessons in English, which would be 
profitable to both. 

Teachers at large will not take kindly my observations ; I 
shall however admit that there are, especially amongst those 
who are not universal, many very able instructors. I shall 

* I have seen music teachers taking music lessons themselves, and 
teaching one day what they had learned the day before. 



MEXICO AND HAVANNA. 35 

then in some measure exonerate even that class of teachers 
against whom my charges are directed. 

In no country is there more impatience, more haste in the 
consummation of whatever project or wish, than in the United 
States ; in consequence of which, a teacher who would con- 
scientiously tell the time necessary to have his pupils sound- 
ly taught in the branches he knows, would be left alone in 
his school room. The Americans, with an ambition worthy 
of better results, would have their children familiar with eve- 
ry branch of learning ; and to obtain pupils, teachers are 
compelled to say they know what they know not, and thus 
for the sake of their daily bread impose upon the people. — 
For this very reason German, English, Irish and Arabs are 
seen in the United States teaching French, Spanish or Ital- 
ian in one month, and even in less time ! ! ! Such impostors 
in the old continent would be dismissed with a certificate to 
avail them for some mad house ; in the United States they 
are often preferred to solid teachers. 

Every thing a?id quick — is the American motto, and they 
will not stop until they find a steam teaching-engine. 

I must notice now a great obstacle which opposes the edu- 
cation of the American youth — I mean their uncontrollable 
dispositions. Claiming freedom from their earliest age, chil- 
dren have generally no respect either for their parents or 
guardians, and much less for their teachers. 

Mutinies at school are not uncommon occurrences. 

I hope 1 shall be already known as a bad hand for flattery. 
It is then with the aid of my experience, and that of others, 
when I say that the power of intelligence is wonderful in 
the United States — female pupils especially, have a prodi- 
gious facility of learning. I was in many instances delighted 
at seeing the extension of their intellectual powers ; and I 
believe I can safely declare them in this respect superior to 
the European ladies. This everywhere better part of the 
divine creation, but in the United States hy far better, could 
do wonders were they not overtaken in the midst of their 
pursuits by that fatal disease, common to the youth of the 
whole world — aversion to study. 

They labor then under another disadvantage which is pecu- 
liar to the Americans — want of perseverance. Girls as well 
as boys will first change as many teachers as they can find : 
a new one is always the best for them ; then they will begin 
and give up, and re-commence and give up so many times, 
until they get at the end so much confused as not to know 
what they were looking for. I recollect a young lady, Miss 
D , saying at the end of the first quarter, " that will do 



36 A VOYAGE TO 

sir, I never take more than one quarter from the same teach- 
er." What is now the consequence of that ] the consequence 
is that they will always begin with the first elements, it being 
truly astonishing how they can stand the tediousness of go- 
ing every time back to the same point ; whilst the teacher, 
who is abruptly dismissed even in the middle of the quarter, 
is placed on a vexatious uncertainty. 

What is to be seen in the United States alone, and nowhere 
else, is the change of professions. Strange as it may appear, 
there are few Americans who persevere in their first avoca- 
tion. People who pass through four or five professions or 
trades are very common in this country. A young man will 
often start as a teacher, then become a lawyer, then be a 
preacher, then a farmer, and ultimately something else. I 
knew myself a man who had been a pedlar, a preacher, a 
school master and a farmer — I knew another who had been 
a farmer, a carpenter, a tavern-keeper, and was at the time I 
left him practising medicine. How such a confusion of pur- 
suits may tend to make people profound in any of them, I 
leave others to say. 

I shall proceed with my plea in favour of the teachers in 
the United States, by noticing that the profession of teaching 
is neither honored nor honorable. 

It is well understood that there exists no rule without ex- 
ceptions, then I shall say — teachers are looked upon with 
indifference, if not contempt. Children consider their in- 
structors not much above hired persons. I know old teach- 
ers who were lynched and beaten by their own pupils. I 
saw in Cincinnati boys throwing filth of every description at 
their teacher, an old and very respectable Frenchman, whilst 
he was walking in the streets. 

I cannot help making here an observation, though strange 
to the subject. It has been I believe a song of all times, 
" that people have degenerated from their fathers." Here 
however I perceive an enormous difference between young 
and old people. Sober, polite and upright men are rather 
scarce, while honesty, frankness and cordiality are very often 
united in old men, who alone give some idea of those splen- 
did characters which were so common fifty years ago, and 
raised the United States so high in public estimation. 

Let us now see what parents do in this country for their 
children. Fathers are generally overcome, oppressed by 
business and politics. They think of giving their children a 
good education, as far as money is concerned ; but they take 
no trouble about how they may be instructed. Children ge- 
nerally choose themselves their school, or I should rather say 



MEXICO AND HAVANNA. 37 

schools. The father scarcely knows the person who must 
make of his son a man. I shall relate an instance of the 
kind. 

A friend of mine, the principal of a female academy in 
Cincinnati, went to pay the water-works' taxes ; I was with 
him. " Your name sir," said the cashier — " Professor B." 
— " oh!" replied the other " the teacher of my daughter ]" — 
** yes sir" — " well I am very glad to see you." Thus by mere 
hazard, a man who I have no doubt cares a great deal about 
his daughter, became acquainted with the person who was 
intrusted with the charge of forming her mind and heart. — 
Mothers do much more for their children than fathers ; but 
their domestic cares prevent them from devoting as much 
time and exertions as the matter requires ; then, what belongs 
to fathers is often incompatible with the notions or duties of 
mothers. European teachers know not what it is to see a 
pupil without seeing at the same time the father or mother 
duly introducing their son or daughter — here on the contrary, 
as if they were so many foundlings, they very often present 
themselves to the teacher, who is obliged to ask — who they 
are. 

American industry is almost proverbial ; however the edu- 
cation of children ought to receive due attention, and be 
placed before any business* Nothing can apologize for such 
deplorable negligence on the part of fathers. 

Now if we take into consideration the scarcity of good 
teachers, the little attention paid by parents to the education 
of the youth, and their undisciplined, unchecked notions and 
habits, we are compelled to look upon the superior men of 
this country as deserving double credit; for in Europe edu- 
cation makes great men, whilst in America, especially in the 
backwoods, they become great by themselves. 

Teaching is not honored in the United States; I say it 
again; and was much pleased in reading a pamphlet publish- 
ed by Mr. O. de A. Santangelo, one of the most distinguished 
and learned foreigners who have ever resided in this coun- 
try. He had and has some claims against Mexico ; and an 
address he delivered before a respectable meeting in New- 
Orleans, in reference to the situation of the United States 
vs. Mexico, which at the request and expense of the same 
meeting was printed, suggested to Mr. Jesper Harding, the 
editor of the Pennsylvania Inquirer and Daily Courier, of 
Philadelphia, some conclusions against its author. Who is 
that Mr. Santangelo, said the article—- a refugee and a school 
master ; but the school master who could not, on account of 
the distance apply the rod, took the pen and pretty severely 



38 A VOYAGE TO 

chastised the editor, with the aforementioned publication 
whose title is — a lesson to Mr. J, H., editor, &c. &c, from 
the school master, O. de A. Santangelo. 

I know not if Mr. Harding derived from the lesson any 
benefit for himself or children ; but I think, that the answer 
of Mr. Santangelo, as a school master, ought to be engraved 
on the door of every school house in the United States ; and 
I wish here to be understood, that, by claiming more consi- 
deration for teachers I am not a Cicero pro dorno sua, for I 
have quitted teaching, and hope I shall not be obliged to 
teach again. 

Let us now pass for a moment from the literary to the 
scientific department ; let us look how they make physicians 
here, especially in the western States. The way is very 
speedy : by attending eight months of lecture on medicine 
out of sixteen, a young man, who in most cases had no prac- 
tice at all, as in many of the medical colleges it so happens 
that they have no hospital, nor physical nor anatomical cabi- 
net connected with it, is left unbridled to run as he pleases 
and take care of nothing more nor less, than the life of his 
fellows. 

I do not deny, that in those colleges they have some emi- 
nent men, who would be duly appreciated anywhere else ; 
but they are like other men — they can teach, not sell or in- 
fuse science ; and were God himself at their place, unless 
by operating a miracle, he could not transfer to a class num- 
bering occasionally two or three hundred pupils so much 
knowledge, as to entitle them in so short a time to practice. 

Amidst such a defective state of things, it would be erro- 
neous to believe, that they have not, even in the backwoods, 
or among those who are so imperfectly taught, some good 
physicians. The evil is, that they learn whilst practising, 
what they ought to have learned at the college. As to the 
system itself, it is partly explained by the moving and fast 
increasing population which fills up the different sections of 
the country ; it will change however, with the rotation of 
that incontrollable power which made arts, sciences, society 
and the world itself what it is — time. 

Some doctors are to be met with in the United States, 
who are as harmless as they can be ; for they get their de- 
gree purely to gratify themselves, by being entitled to place 
before their name " doctor" instead of that now- a-days tri- 
vial and worn out "Esq." after the name. The word "doc- 
tor" then is so sonorous, that they prefer it to the common- 
place appellations of "captain, major, colonel or gejieral" 



MEXICO AND HAVANNA. 39 

which have fallen very much into discredit, since every pup- 
pet is so called in the United States, 

Should I go at full length, through the many strange and 
at the same time significant incidents which occurred to me, 
during my teaching epoch, I know not whether I should 
amuse or fatigue my readers. I shall therefore confine my- 
self to relating a few of them, 

I arrived in Cincinnati in the month of August, 1838, I 
was the bearer of a kind introduction from Mr. Duponceau 
to Dr. Drake, a man favourably known in the western States 
for his literary and scientific attainments. As soon as Dr. 
Drake saw the introduction, he told me that at the Cincin- 
nati college they wanted a French teacher, and would exert 
himself to have me there in that capacity. At the same time 
he favoured me with written introductions to some of the 
most respectable persons in that city; and informed me that 
the then president of that institution, Rev. McGuffey, absent 
at that time, would return by the 1st of September, at which 
time the lectures, suspended by the vacation of the college, 
would be resumed. 

It was I recollect early on a Monday morning when Dr. 
Drake sent me word that the president had arrived, and it 
was settled that we should call upon him the same morning 
at nine o'clock. We proceeded together to the college, 
where after the usual introduction and commonplace com- 
pliments, Rev. McGuffy professed to be anxious that I should 
fill the chair of modern languages : he added that the trus- 
tees had found my qualifications unexceptionable ; he then 
requested me to call on him at two o'clock the same day, in 
order to converse about my pi'ofessorsliip, and settle the busi- 
ness. 

At the time specified I was in the hall of the college, when 
the president introduced me to the professors attached to the 
institution. He was very busy and had hardly time to talk 
with me. He asked what my terms would be ; I told him 
what I intended to charge ; whereupon he observed " it was 
too high :" half an hour had passed away when a venerable 
looking gentleman entered, having a young man with him. 
Mr. McGuffey made me acquainted with the old man, the 
how lamented Major Morgan Neville, one of the best men I 
ever knew — particularly distinguished for his courtesy to- 
wards strangers whom he was always intent to oblige. The 
young man turned out to be a Spaniard and a teacher who 
was there on the same errand. 

I talked in French with Major Neville, who as he told me 
had received some lessons from the now king of France, 

e2 



40 A VOYAGE TO 

when lie was forced to seek an asylum in this hospitable 
land ; but Mr. Neville soon left the room, and I then conversed 
with the Spaniard about Cadiz, his birth-place^ and where I 
spent better days. During this conversation Mr. McGuffey 
whispered twice in my ears that he would be directly with 
me, and the third time repeated the same, only adding that 
he had to go out and examine some elementary teacher, but 
would soon be back. The professors one after another stole 
away, and I went on talking with my competitor, whom I did 
not forget to question about his being there at that time in 
order to discover if it was casual or designed. He informed 
me he had been requested to " call at two o'clock'':, the ma- 
noeuvre was then clearly explained,, and I only wished to 
know how far the farce would be carried when one of the 
professors, Mr. Mitchell, stepped in and thus addressed both 
at once : " gentlemen, president McGuffey is now too much 
engaged and cannot be with you, please put down your terms 
and call on him to-morrow morning ; he who will be more 
reasonable shall be preferred." 

I was at that that time still less familiar with the English 
language than I am now ; however I rose up and in a bro- 
ken but intelligible language replied — " sir, I am sorry, I 
thought I was in the Cincinnati college hall, and I see now 
that I ana in an auctioneer-shop — any one else but profes- 
sional men are thus to be treated i this gentleman (turning 
to the Spaniard) is qualified for the college, and president 
McGuffey may make his arrangements with him ; for as to 
myself, I have nothing more to do either with the college or 
with him;" and bowing I left that asylum of knowledge. 

I went immediately to see Dr. Drake — I could never bring 
him to the subject ; from his behaviour however I clearly 
perceived that he did not like my abruptness. The few per- 
sons whom through Dr. Drake I knew in the city, and who 
had expressed a wish that I could enter the college were 
pleased with my conduct. An American would say they 
" patronized" me ;. but I do not admit of that servile word 
being applied to teachers, for they give more than they re- 
ceive : I say then I was encouraged, and, had as many pupils 
as I could attend to. 

President McGuffey thinking of the stage, steamboat and 
ferry-boat opposition lines, tried to start a French teaching 
opposition line too. 

There is in the " Queen of the West" another large literary 
institution called " the Woodward College." The president 
of that college called on me, as he wanted a French teacher* 
The professor of modern languages, or better to say of French;,, 



MEXICO AND HAVANNA. 41 

(as it is the only language to which a little attention is paid 
by the western people) had died. He had been a pupil of 
the same old French teacher I mentioned before and in 
twelve weeks had become a professor. When we came to 
the terms, I was really scandalized on hearing the low remu- 
neration which was connected with the chair of modern lan- 
guages ; but Mr. R , the demised professor, cleared 

from one thousand to twelve hundred dollars a year by 
teaching, at the same time, half a dozen more of scientific 
branches. 

Many instructors are so badly paid in the United States, 
especially in the West, that any porter or drayman clears 
twice or three times as much as they do, besides being more 
punctually paid than teachers generally are. 

Teachers of every thing, who have nominally devoted a 
quarter to learn such things, are by thousands in the United 
States. The best instance of professional effrontery, how- 
ever, is the following : 

On the 30th of March, 1839, a teacher either from New- 
port or Covington, Kentucky, called on me. He wished to 
take six French lessons. " I want substantial lessons," said 
he, " for I intend teaching French myself after." I fixed 
my eyes steadily upon him, and then declared that I could 
not comply with his request. I told him he could make appli- 
cation to some other teacher in Cincinnati : at first he would 
not, but I ultimately prevailed upon him to apply to a friend 
of mine, Mr. Sary. At the moment I dismissed him, an 
odd idea crossed my mind : hastily I set out, and, taking 
another way, I arrived at Mr. Sary's before the applicant 
got there. I briefly informed him of the occurrence, advis- 
ing him to settle the terms and give him a lesson, as he had 
told me he would take one immediately, because he was 
about going into the interior of Kentucky and starting a 
school there. " The grammar," as these geniuses will al- 
ways say, " is nothing ; what I care most for is the pronun- 
ciation." My man had so expressed himself; and, though 
it was perhaps too bad, I suggested to my friend to teach it 
wrong. I wished to be a listener ; therefore I went up to 
Mr. Sary's bedroom, which was above his office. The teacher- 
pupil took his lesson, and I thought I should die in endea- 
vouring to repress my laughter at the strange howling that 
I heard. He took six lessons, which were given to him on 
the same plan ; he paid two dollars each, cash after the les- 
son was over ; and there is not the least doubt that he is 
now delighting some poor boy or girl, who will afterwards 
say, " I know French, I took so many quarters or lessons 

e 3 



42 A VOYAGE TO 

from Mr. ." Such teachers, for the rest, are poured 

over the country en masse by the Eastern States, and he was 
one of them. 

Instructors in French, knowing as much of it as the Cov- 
ington or Newport man, are numberless. I shall never forget 
a French scholar, in Kentucky, who was, and is, at the head 
of a fashionable Academie Champetre. The poor man had so 
much to do, (I never saw him doing any thing else but clean- 
ing the pieces of his chemical apparatus, or putting a nail 
here and there about the house,) that he engaged me to take 
his place in teaching French in his institution. I happened 
to have some some difficulty with his son, a grown-up young 
man, who amused himself by stepping, under different pre- 
texts, into my room whilst I was lecturing, and whom I was 
obliged to watch closely, to prevent his making grimaces to, 
or playing the telegraph with, the girls, at the expense of 
the lecturer. After having repeatedly warned him against 
such improper and unseasonable intrusions, I once shut the 
door on the nose of the impudent youth. The principal of 
the academy happened to be out somewhere ; I sent a mes- 
sage to him the next day, whereby I minutely related the 
occurrence, intimating that I should continue teaching, con- 
ditionally with a full approbation of my conduct. I wrote 
to him in French, and my French scholar misunderstood my 
letter so much, that I was not a little surprised at hearing 
that he was angry with me, because, as he said, I had in- 
sulted him. In short, I was obliged to send him an English 
translation of my French letter, that he might see his gross 
error, besides that of having acted with me as a father, and 
not as the principal of the institution. 

I must now notice some notions which I often found even 
in superior men, and which struck me. Here comes a con- 
versation, such as it happened, with an eminent lawyer, who 
wished to have his daughter instructed in the French lan- 
guage : — " Are you a Frenchman, sir?" " No, sir: I am 
an Italian." " Do you know French?" " I think so." 
" Have you ever been in France ?" " Many times." " Do 
you pronounce French well V 9 " I believe so." " Can Ita- 
lians pronounce that language well V 9 " Sir, I am astonish- 
ed you ask me such questions ; if you consider me a gentle- 
man, you have no right to suspect that I am here to impose 
upon you. You are well acquainted with Mr. A., Mrs. B., 
Miss C., who are my pupils ; why do you not ask about such 
things of them, instead of obliging me, either to boast in 
your presence, in order to obtain a pupil, or, by complying 
with that sense of modesty which becomes a well-aducated 



MEXICO AND HAVANNA, 43 

man, induce you to think poorly of me ? Please, what be- 
nefit can you expect to derive from such questions ] Let 
us suppose that I have not about me that honesty which for- 
bids a man saying he knows what he does not know ; or, 
let us suppose that my circumstances press me so hard as 
to make me compromise my principles, how can you expect 
that, being introduced to you in the capacity of a French 
teacher, I would avow my ignorance ? If you were conver- 
sant with that language, and could judge yourself of what I 
am capable, you would be right ; but, as you know nothing 
about it, be satisfied with what the friend who introduces 
me to you says, and do not subject me to such idle examina- 
tion.' ' The Americans would have teachers say what they, 
in their electioneering tours, use to say of themselves — " I 
am the man you want. Is there any man in the whole 
country or State, more honest, more capable to represent 
you in Congress than I ?" and such like. 

A good teacher who could teach English and Latin well, 
with the elements of geography and arithmetic would starve. 
The Americans want the sublime. The aristocracy wish 
to have their children rise above the community, to answer 
their lineage or position in society, while the tradesman, the 
farmer, and the mechanic feel the greatest anxiety to com- 
pete with the wealthy, and will not have their sons and 
daughters unacquainted with philosophy, theology, mathe- 
matics, and what else the charlatans who conduct the fash- 
ionable schools pretend to teach. Satisfied with saying, my 
daughter or my son is learning algebra, astronomy, chemis- 
try and botany, they do not mind whether it is possible for 
them to learn such a bulk of sciences at their age and within 
the short time they interruptedly devote to their acquisition. 

To ravish parents more and more, there comes the weekly 
ticket of the teacher, who never fails quoting the portentous 
progress of his little automata. This is the chief key by 
which the most ignorant instructors make themselves popu- 
lar ; the other secret for them to succeed being that of pleas- 
ing their pupils, which is equal to say, let them do what 
they choose, and above all, never correct them in any way : 
many a teacher was whipped, and even killed, because he 
had dared touch a child. 

I do not mean here ill-treatment, for I should never my- 
self allow a teacher the right of treating brutally a child of 
mine, if I had any ; but I refer to corrections with the rod, 
which the wisest of men recommended, and are not, of 
course, intended to injure the pupil in the slightest degree. 

I have seen myself the most peaceable people becoming 



44 A VOYAGE TO 

furious and capable of any excess, to avenge their insulted 
blood; while the most reasonable father will, in such in- 
stances, forthwith take away his crying boy or girl from that 
monster who forgets himself so far as to punish, with a slap 
or two, a solemn impertinence or real insult. 

This interference of parents between instructors and pu- 
pils, so general as it is, has the most fatal consequences. It 
contributes to render the profession more and more disgust- 
ing to a conscientious and able man. He will take it but 
as a transient business, or a refuge in case of necessity, to 
get rid of it as soon as he can ; while he who is compelled 
to stick to it, because his shallow mind does not permit him 
to take a flight for another field of action, must endure so 
much from his pupils, as to make him execrate his degrad- 
ing condition. 

That something must be capitally wrong in the system of 
education of this country, is proved by an observation — 
which is not originally mine, but into which I looked, and 
saw it implies a fact which is peculiar, I believe, to the Uni- 
ted States, — almost all children of the most distinguished 
men in the Union, turn out the opposite of their fathers 
in character and standing. How does that happen ] I 
should say, it happens because shielding themselves under 
the shade of their fathers' renown or glory, they feel as if 
they could pierce through the whole world. What teacher 
would even dream of holding them in subjection % They 
presume they can become great by reflection, and, carrying 
to school misplaced pride, they mind nothing else except their 
parents' character or celebrity, which too often leads them 
from the school-room to places of dissipation : of the noble 
pride which consists in transmitting unblemished the honor- 
able name they received, there is none ! As Confucius said, 
" not all men can be great, but all can be good ;" and if we 
direct our attention to the " Old "World," we shall find that 
it is an exception there, when a young man does not sustain 
spotless the reputation of his distinguished origin. 

This is the proper place to mention those who reprimand 
Americans going to Europe " with the object of instructing 
themselves.' ' I have often met with shameless pieces in 
reference to this subject. I shall, however, only quote the 
conclusion of an article which fell into my hands while writ- 
ing — I say I shall refer to the conclusion alone, as the whole 
piece is a matter that would hardly be digested by any body. 

" The time," says the article, " is fast approaching when 
the central point of this world's doings will settle itself 
in the United States, and the present order of things be so 



MEXICO AND HAVANNA. 45 

changed, that instead of receiving impressions from abroad, 
the tide of influence or effluence will be rolled back upon 
Europe, and the course of events in the Eastern hemisphere 
be controlled by the emanating power diffused from the 
mighty workings of intellect in this abode of moral, social 
and political virtues." 

I am well aware that these are not the general notions of 
the Americans, there being many amongst them who de- 
nounce misconstructions of the kind ; yet they do not fail 
making a wrong and fatal impression upon young minds 
especially. 

To induce people more plausibly to suppose that they 
have just the same means and advantages here as in Europe, 
they will misname every thing ; the most ridiculous paro- 
dies being thus exhibited to the calm observer with their 
museums, academies of fine arts, and literary or scientific asso- 
ciations. Even the backwoodsmen are not exempt from 
presumption on this head ; Phydias, Apelles, Raphael, Ca- 
nova, and others would almost blush for their works, if they 
were to open their eyes, and peep at the productions of 
American artists, as they are described (on the puff-system) 
by the prints of this country ; yet, as regards the fine arts, 
they have neither schools nor models to study, which accounts 
for the deviation from all rules, and the offensive faults ex- 
hibited in all their most important and costly edifices. 

It is a common saying that " Rome was not built in one 
day." The United States did in a short time much more 
than they wanted to astonish the present and future genera- 
tions — true ! Let not the Americans, however, confound 
what has been done with what remains to do. How many 
mighty geniuses appeared on the stage of Europe — from 
Pliny down to La Place — all pouring streams of light and 
learning through different generations, all contributing with 
their talents to enrich the domain of letters or sciences ! 
Notwithstanding that, look at people there, how eagerly and 
incessantly they work to clear the dark and thorny path 
of knowledge. Can now the presumption that " enough 
was done" become the Americans % Look back at the Ro- 
mans, They were the rulers of the whole world ; yet they 
did not disdain travelling through Greece in search of learn- 
ing, as the Greeks themselves had previously done by re- 
sorting, though powerful, to the schools of Egypt: I do 
not believe there has ever been a really great scientific or 
literary man, from any country, who did not travel or look 
abroad with the express purpose of getting information. 

The true lover of this country is not he who says, " We 



46 A VOYAGE TO 

are great ; what do we want more ] What have we to ex- 
pect from the old Continent V Such a fool might be com- 
pared with certain parents, who, prompted by a blind fond- 
ness for their children, will give them to understand while 
in the midst of their studies, that they are arks of science 
and wisdom. Such parents barricade the way of learning 
to their children, just the same as those who spread the 
false notions to which I have made allusion, check the pro- 
gress of their country . # 

It is time to close my subject. What reflects honor and 
credit upon the United States is their common-school sys- 
tem. It labours, of course, under the same difficulties as 
the whole machinery ; but if, for want of good teachers, they 
do not obtain the contemplated results, their intention, efforts 
and sacrifices are highly commendable. 

The Mexicans evince not even the least desire of having 
the mass of the people instructed and enlighted. 



CHAPTER IV. 

Duelling, races, and fires in Mexico — Conflagrations in the United 
States— The Mexican army, as it was and is — The Mexican Mu- 
seum — Lynch-law in reference to Gen. Santa Anna — Course of the 
American press towards Mexico — The expulsion of the French — 
Execution of Gen. Mejia — Antiquities of Mexico — Foreigners in 
the United States and Mexico — Speculations on American credu- 
lity — Two cases of professional imposition in Mexico. 

Duelling is but little known in Mexico. They have no 
races in that country.! 

* I saw an American Atlas in which the United States and Eng- 
land are put down as the only enlightened countries in the world. 
Poor France, Italy, Germany, with Switzerland and others, must be 
thankful for being marked as civilized but not enlightened. So far 
is carried, by some, the spirit of a mistaken national self-conceit ! I 
know a person, one of those who are waiting to see the " effluence of 
the United States upon Europe," who caused a young Italian to be 
sent from Tuscany, where he could get his education at some of the 
old and substantial universities, to Cincinnati, to be educated there. 
Europe has a population of from fifteen to sixteen to one in the Uni- 
ted States ; however, such blind people hardly suspect, I believe, that 
each European has more or less expanded brains, or at least the place, 
as the writer of the afore-mentioned piece and the person above 
spoken of have, where the brains generally lodge. 

f The first time I saw races advertised in the United States, I 



MEXICO AND HAVANNA, 47 

Conflagrations, that dreadful cause of ruin to many per- 
sons here, and of heavy losses to the whole country, are 
equally unknown to the Mexicans. There are no insurance 
companies in that republic ; and I do not know whether it 
would not be better for the United States also to have none. 

In Europe such companies are a safeguard to the poor, 
who sleep quietly ; for if any accident happen, and a house 
(the only means upon which they and their families live) be 
burnt, they will not be reduced to mendicity. The contract 
between insurers and insured is founded, there, upon casualty 
or eventual calamities. The premium for insurance rates 
in Italy and France from twenty-five to fifty cents for one 
thousand dollars a year, and yet the insurers make good di- 
vidends. In the United States it ranges between one and 
one and a half per cent., that is to say, from ten to fifteen 
dollars — a mighty difference ! 

If New York, Philadelphia, and all other cities in the 
Union were built on the top of Etna or Hecla, the daily 
conflagrations which take place here and there could scarcely 
be explained, if it were not generally known that houses or 
stores are often purposely set on fire to " make a good busi- 
ness," out of the contract of insurance. The property of 
others, the lives of many individuals may be trifled with ; 
but what do such unprincipled men care about the whole 
creation ] It has frequently been the case that whole cities 
were consumed by fire. Charleston and Mobile will tell 
the sad tale. One has only to read the various statements 
yearly published through the papers, to see the fearful losses 
of millions and millions yearly caused by that destructive 
element — -pure losses, as the French would say, whereby 
none gain but those who recover forty or fifty per cent, on 
the insured amount of the destroyed property. 

Such contracts in the United States appear to me fraudu- 
lent on both sides. The insured settles a nominative value 
on his property, which is often four, six, or ten times as 
much as its real value. The insurers acquiesce, because it 
is taken for granted, that in case of any accident, they come 
to an arrangement and pay out but half or less than a half of 

could not understand some severe articles against them which ap- 
peared in the papers. I was accustomed to see races on the Conti- 
nent of Europe, and especially in my native country, where forty or 
fifty thousand people collect in an amphitheatre, and amuse them- 
selves merely by watching which footman, horse, or chariot leaves 
the others behind. I was, nevertheless, soon informed of their being 
here places of resort for black-legs and other scamps who rush from 
all quarters to the races. 



48 A VOYAGE TO 

the agreed amount ; by this way, or in consequence of com- 
promising the insured value, the premium of ten or fifteen 
dollars rises to twenty or thirty, and even more ; please now 
to compare twenty-five or fifty cents with twenty or thirty 
dollars. 

I say again, the insurers enhance such diabolical specula- 
tions. The dividends of the companies that do not blow up, 
are so much blood sucked from the country, while the daily 
occurrence of similar disasters casts a stain upon the national 
character. 

In Europe, or in Mexico, they are surprised at hearing of 
a fire ; in the principal cities of the United States they are 
so, when they have no fire for some two or three days ; and 
here I must mention, that large and costly buildings, such as 
churches, hotels, or theatres are chiefly exposed to the rage 
of incendiaries, who repeat their attempts, until they succeed 
in reducing them to ashes. 

It is a wonder, that the matter is not seriously looked into 
by the Legislatures of the different States, or by Congress 
itself. They ought to be inexorable against such ruffians ; 
who strike at once at the subsistence and life of their fellow- 
beings. In France, and other countries of Europe, incendi- 
aries are liable to the same exemplary punishment as regi- 
cides and parricides. 

No charter, I should say, ought to be granted to insurance 
associations, but on certain conditions ; amongst which there 
should be that, of having the property valued, and allow 
them to insure but half of its real amount ; then by striking, 
without any mercy, at the criminals, the country would be 
freed from so many fatal and disgracing conflagrations. 

To Mexico again ! by degrees I got accustomed to the 
faces of the Indians, and the soldiery appeared to me much 
better than that I had seen before, though their poor uniforms 
attest the little attention, if not inability, of the government ; 
who is constantly in arrears with the army, as well as with 
the civil officers. Except in case of their being so situated 
as to be able to pay themselves out of the treasury money, 
or of being feared as danger-ous — how far weakness goes ! — 
they all receive but one third of their salary. 

G-en. Filisola assured me that they had, under the Spanish 
government a splendid army, above all, a cavalry which could 
cope with the best in Europe. The Spaniards enlisted only 
white men, but now as corruption, that Briarean monster of 
Mexico, must have a hand in every thing, the whites always 
escape military service, which is thus carried on by the In- 



Mexico and havanna* 49 

dians ; an abuse which is against all policy, and of which 
the Mexicans may one day repent. 

The belief generally credited abroad, that their soldiers 
are good for nothing is erroneous, and I have this assertion 
from a disinterested source, a stranger who was an eye wit- 
ness of the battle of Acajete. The Mexicans fight bravely, 
are sober, and can endure all hardships and privations. — 
They are in this respect, like some tribes in the United States, 
I heard it affirmed by many foreign officers in the Mexican 
Service, that not a single groan is heard in a field covered 
with wounded and dying. 

I shall give place here to a fact, for which I am indebted 
to an Italian surgeon. He performed one of the most pain- 
ful operations upon an Indian. There being no other per- 
son in the room but the Indian's wife, the operator remarked 
he wanted some assistant to keep the patient quiet — " why 
doctor," said the patient, " you need not be afraid of any 
thing, I am a man" — in the mean time he lighted a cigar and 
began smoking ; in the midst of the operation, the sufferer 
made a slight contortion, whereby his cigar fell from his 
mouth — " be a man," said his wife, and picking up the cigar 
she handed it to the sufferer, who, without betraying the least 
symptom of weakness, endured the most excruciating pains 
until the operation was over. 

To make out of such men good soldiers, it seems to me, 
must not be difficult. The evil lies in the officers, who for 
want either of instruction, or of character, cannot inspire 
their soldiers with that confidence which is one half in the 
issue of a combat. To have a good and disciplined army, 
the Mexican ranks want to be cleared of the dregs, 

I was exceedingly delighted in visiting the Mexican mu- 
seum. It contains some relics of the dark ages, although, on 
account of the prevalent (how many times am I compelled 
to put down,) corruption, reduced to a few. A regular and 
clandestine pillage has deprived it of many valuable pieces. 
I almost blush for a person who, having in his possession 
some objects belonging to it, carelessly complained, that he 
could not any longer " get curiosities" from the museum — 
the way people obtained them formerly, was by making a 
bargain with the guards, or the very men who were paid to 
watch, that nothing could be spoiled or stolen. The valua- 
ble map of Tenoclititlan, or the ancient city of Mexico, had 
found its way to England. One Mr. Bullock sent it there ; 
but it was returned, and it bears the mark of the British 
museum. 

The person who is, at this time intrusted with that, though 

F 



50 A VOYAGE TO 

impaired, yet always precious deposit, will answer public 
confidence. 

The aforesaid map is a present which Montezuma made 
to Cortes. The priests tore away the part where the tem- 
ple was represented ; the rest is yet to be seen, and shows 
how the city was divided into four quarters, each having its 
tutelar god. There is in the centre a blank ; the sanctuary 
of Huitzilopochtli, or the Mars of the ancient Mexicans was 
there. Streets, canals, causeways and ditches are traced 
down, with the squares divided into districts, each of which 
is made distinct by a head ; there being in the midst of every 
square a large head indicating the man who had the super- 
intendence of it. The portrait of that oracle of science and 
truth — Humboldt, is amongst the ornaments of the museum. 

There are a few paintings from amongst those which were 
miraculously snatched from the pile. Some of them show 
the hard journeying of the Aztecas, the same tribe, which, 
persecuted by hostile hordes, thought of sheltering them- 
selves and taking refuge in the bushes of the lakes; built 
there, in the midst of the waters, a new Venice. The moun- 
tains and rivers which they crossed in their emigration are 
put down, as well as the different combats they had to sus- 
tain ; when bloody, by a red streamlet ; when of small ac- 
count, by red stains. 

Those ancient tribes had their genealogical trees or maps, 
pointing out their forefathers, and whenever there happened 
to be amongst them any great man, a house was painted at 
his side, as a mark of distinction. 

The different cities and families of noble origin had, in 
those remote times, their own symbols and arms. 

Some old manuscripts also escaped destruction, and 
prove highly interesting. They had characters moulded in 
clay, and they used the juice of a certain grass as ink. — 
Amongst the curiosities of Palenque, which were drawn and 
engraved by some French and English amateurs, all kinds 
of figures are to be seen in beautiful bas reliefs. Some 
pieces from the same ancient place exist in the museum, 
and inscriptions too, not hieroglyphics, but letters. 

All the maps and manuscripts or books to which I have 
alluded, are made with a paste of maguey; so that, whilst 
we had parchments, the aborigines of that country had a 
rough, thick and unequal paper — they, at any rate, used 
moulded characters before we did. 

Splendid marble vases are to be seen there: they look 
like the Italian alabaster works. Though not equal in work- 
manship, they can however be considered superior, consider- 



MEXICO AND HAVANNA. 51 

ing the much harder substance, and consequently much 
greater difficulty in working them. Some of the same vases 
are presumed to have served in gathering the blood of the 
human victims of idolatry. A very heavy instrument of 
stone is shown, in the form of .a horse-shoe, with its two poles 
protracted; which, it is thought, was put on the neck of the 
stretched and panting victim, to prevent his raising the head 
and disturbing the sacerdotal performance. 

One sees there, beautiful specimens of workmanship in 
feathers, wax and rags, which nowhere else are, even at the 
present time, so exquisitely executed as by the Indians in 
Mexico. 

People know not now, how to work, as the ancient Mexi- 
cans did, the serpentaria and other hard volcanic stones. — 
Their tools were chiefly of coral. Having plenty of gold, 
they did not even dream of the existence of another metal, 
greatly inferior in value, wherewith their gold was to be ob- 
tained. In Palenque and other parts copper was used. — 
Some hatchets and other instruments are in the museum. 

How the aborigines of Mexico wrought gold and silver, is 
known by any one, familiar with the authors who have writ- 
ten upon that country. All Europe admired the pieces sent 
by Cortes to the court of Spain ; no silversmith in Italy or 
Spain could even imitate them. How they wrought copper 
is well demonstrated by Diaz del Castillo one of the con- 
querors of Mexico. 

He had gone to those coasts with Don Francisco Hernan- 
dez, who sailed in 1517 from Ajaruco, now Havanna, and 
first discovered the Mexican shores. He was with Don Juan 
de Grijalva, who made for the same land next year; and ac- 
companied the third armament sent by Don Diego Velas- 
quez, the governor of the island of Cuba, on the 10th of 
February 1519, under the command of Cortes. 

When the above-mentioned conqueror was with de Gri- 
jalva at Guacualco, the Indians carried small hatchets of cop- 
per so bright, that the Spaniards supposing them to be of 
gold, eagerly purchased them and collected about 600. On 
their return to Ajaruco the hatchets were essayed, and the 
mistake caused a great deal of laughing. 

The Mexicans polished their marble so well as to make it 
answer the purpose of looking-glasses. Their splendid mar- 
ble cups, the masks they put in the hands of the dead, so that 
they could use them in crossing the river of eternity, their 
bells, their penates, their clay portraits, rings, drums, and 
other musical instruments, amongst which the toponaztli is 
prominent, their flinty swords and lances, their arrows whose 

f 2 



52 A VOYAGE TO 

points were poisoned with a vegetable substance, then cover- 
ed with a sheath to prevent evaporation, their shields, and 
finally their dead bodies preserved by an art of embalming 
which they had in common with the Egyptians — all jointly 
with their astronomical notions, which are made evident by 
their calendar, and with other memorials of their knowledge 
and refinements, show a great nation, of which it is very 
painful, we are left to know so little. 

Their human sacrifices form a bloody page of their his- 
tory ; but has not the history of Christianity had the same 
bloody eras'? have not lawless, blood-thirsty Christians, fre- 
quently in the very name of the Lord of clemency slaughtered 
millions of millions of the aborigines of America; mostly to 
rob them; often, merely because they were not Christians; 
sometimes for amusement; and in many instances without 
being able to say why they murdered the poor defenceless 
Indians I — alas ! religion has been used too often by all na- 
tions and in all ages as a cloak, to cover the darkest designs 
and transactions. 

We may believe, that because we call ourselves " Chris- 
tians" we are welcome to God, just as we please; God* 
however, alone knows, who are better entitled to his mer- 
cy; whether those who profess His doctrine or the sava- 
ges; the sons of the desert, upon whom, in his inscrutible 
will, he was not pleased to spread light. God alone knows 
whether more blood was shed to gratify Huitzilopoehtly or 
under His banners, and under the specious pretence of serv- 
ing His cause. 

Let us go on with the modern Mexicans. 

Lynch-laws and mobocracy have not yet been imported 
there from their neighbors. They are aware of the indeli- 
ble and cruel infractions of the laws which often take place 
in the United States, and boast of not having imputations of 
the kind resting upon them. What they sincerely regret is, 
that the benefit of lynching was not fully extended to Gen. 
Santa Anna, at the time he was travelling on parole through 
the United States. A Mexican made the following remark 
to me — " the Americans did not kill him, because they knew 
it would have been a great service done to our country." 

The Mexicans used also to say that well could they pay 
$600,000 to the French to have Santa Anna, the curse of his 
country, one of the principal causes of its low wretched con- 
dition, disabled, as they told me he is now. In referring to 
the political circumstances of Mexico I shall speak of him. 

I said, at the beginning of this work, that the American 
prints ill-treat Mexico, and every thing which is Mexican*— 



MEXICO AND HAVANNA 53 

The fountain-head of such improper assaults, as well as of 
the most ludicrous and inconsistent pieces of news about that 
country, I said to be the New-Orleans papers. Mainly on 
account of their having warmly espoused the cause of Texas, 
as also for their being actually interested in the welfare of 
that new sister-republic, they rave against Mexico ; and had 
their reports proved even only by half true, that poor repub- 
lic would be now infinitely below the most imaginably bar- 
barous and savage condition of the human race. 

The New-Orleans editors have correspondents, who, hav- 
ing hardly landed, invariably burn with impatience of return- 
ing; whilst they write iniquities about the country. Such 
correspondents will always speak of many places taken by 
the Federalists ; the news, they will say, is official and has 
been received by the authorities; but they keep it concealed. 
When such correspondents fail them, they are never at a 
loss for substitutes ; then it happens, that they have the op- 
portunity of conversing with a passenger, or a captain recent- 
ly arrived from some Mexican port, who candidly assured 
them that Matamoras, Tampico and Tabasco have been ta- 
ken by storm; that the ferment of the Mexicans is at the 
highest pitch; that they long to restore the constitution of 
1824; that the Federalists are everywhere triumphant; that 
the priestly dominion is agonizing; that the French are more 
and more hated; that fifty or a hundred Americans have been 
put into chains; that Bustamente is about resigning, &c. 
&c. &c. 

Such are the upside-down accounts given about Mexico, 
that I was asked even by some men of the highest standing 
in the United States — who is now the president of that 
Republic ] nor can we attribute it to a want of interest on 
the part of the Americans in reference to that country; for 
they have as much interest, if not more, for Mexico than for 
any other country. 

It is unnecessary for me to say, whence arises the Ameri- 
can sympathy towards the Federalists; as it is well known 
that, acknowledging themselves incapable of carrying their 
point, they have applied for assistance to the natural foes of 
their country — the Texians ; making of their causes a single 
one, whereby the independence of Texas would be admitted. 

Shall I now add that the written or verbal communica- 
tions whereof I have just spoken find their way into all Ame- 
rican papers, while others, intended to extenuate the preju- 
dices in existence against that country, do not % I recollect 
a letter from an officer on board the man-of-war that trans- 
ported to Vera Cruz Mr. Ellis, the present minister of the 

f 3 



54 A VOYAGE TO 

United States to Mexico ; it gave an account of the reception 
they met with, and was calculated to appease the bad feel- 
ings which prevail amongst his countrymen towards Mexico, 
It was copied, I believe, by only two or three American 
papers. 

As a matter of fact, I shall pause to relate my evidences 
concerning two events about which the American press 
made a thundering noise ; one is the expulsion of the French 
after the surrender of Ulua to Admiral Baudin ; the other, 
the execution of Gen. Mejia. 

It is an impression received in the United States, and 
elsewhere, that the French, when the expulsion-bill was 
passed, were placed at the mercy of an exasperated canaille, 
and exposed to every kind of vexation. According to the 
same reports, without thinking of their property, their very 
life was constantly in danger ; now listen to me ! I did not 
look for information on this head from Mexicans, but from 
Frenchmen ; so that, what I say may be considered as if it 
came from an impartial French pen. 

The decree of expulsion was the conception of excited 
minds. It was scarcely issued, before its very authors had,, 
if not repented, at least determined not to enforce it. 

The French, by that elan which is a prominent character 
among them, began saying, " let us go;" and all would go. 
As they mostly had a trade, many of them hastily sold their 
goods, packed up their money or valuables, and away they 
went. Others, somewhat cooler, thought of trying if they 
could remain, by professing to be Swiss, Belgians, or any 
thing else ; and, applying to the consuls of different powers, 
found the protection they wanted, and remained ; others at 
last did not even resort to any momentary transfiguration, 
and were unmolested: I know myself at least a dozen of 
the last. 

Neither in the city of Mexico nor in the provinces did the 
government take any step to drive off the French ; nor did 
the people act unbecomingly against them ; with, however, 
as far as I know, the exception of a Frenchman and an Ita- 
lian (who was mistaken for a Frenchman) in Vera Cruz, 
or close by the theatre of action, whose stores were sacked 
by the bachinangos y or people from the adjacent country. 

Some of the French who left that republic were actuated 
by a pure national enthusiasm ; others went away, being 
very glad to seize so good an opportunity of settling their 
accounts ; others, in fine, imagined that they could make a 
good business out of the expulsion, anticipating the pleasure 
they would have when their "bills of damages" should be 



MEXICO AND HAVANNA, 55 

paid by the Mexican government. I heard of one belonging 
to both the last two categories, who, having in his store a 
few pairs of shoes, planned a bill to the amount of a round 
fifty thousand dollars. 

For the rest, men are capable of such extravagancies, that 
I should not be surprised, if a number of French emigrants 
should be mustered, who left Mexico not knowing them- 
selves why. I shall notice an instance of eccentricity, which 
I had some difficulty in crediting, but found out to be true. 

A physician, (I believe from Switzerland,) a gentleman 
highly esteemed, and who had an extensive practice in the 
city of Mexico, at the time to which I allude, thought of be- 
ing a Frenchman, and as such he emigrated, giving up the 
whole concern. Was it not a fancy ] He was hourly ex- 
pected back from Europe when I left Mexico. 

To add now the last and capital proof that the Mexicans 
are not the " Bedouins" they are thought to be in the Uni- 
ted States, all the Frenchmen who left the Republic of 
Mexico, with the exception of a very few, went back, with an 
addition of three or four hundred fresh men, who of course 
could not have been much frightened by the accounts of 
their expelled and wandering countrymen. 

The number of the Frenchmen in the capital before the 
expulsion, was thought to be from nine hundred to one thou- 
sand ; whilst it is reckoned now from twelve hundred to 
thirteen hundred. Some must have been obliged by circum- 
stances to go back, I know; but, if Mexico were such an 
abominable country, as by some reported to be, many would 
undoubtedly have steered for some other point of the com- 
pass. 

" Peace to the dead." I intend to speak in due time of 
Gen. Mejia ; here, I shall only refer to his end. 

The American papers proclaimed to the whole world, 
that Gen. Mejia w?.s executed in less than an hour after he 
had been taken prisoner, and in the most barbarous way v 
they said that, as the Mexicans intimated they would shoot 
him in his back, and he would not assent to it, he was struck 
to death with the breeches of their guns ; the conclusion of 
such reports was, that he had not been allowed a priest, to 
settle his spiritual concerns. 

I happened to travel and visit the place where the re- 
mains of Gen. Mejia lie, in company with Col. Torrejon, 
the same who commanded the cavalry and fixed the events 
of the battle of Acajete, although the honor of the triumph 
devolved upon the general commanding. Col. Torrejon is 
a gallant officer and a perfect gentleman. He related to me 



56 A VOYAGE TO 

the whole affair, and his account coincided with what I had 
heard from the eye-witness to whom I alluded before. 

Gen. Mejia, at the head of but fifteen hundred men, fought 
bravely against more than double that number. He so se- 
verely flogged the government troops that, but for the re-in- 
forcement of cavalry, which the latter received from Pue- 
bla, Mejia would have marched to the capital. 

At the moment in which there was no longer any hope 
of success, Gen. Mejia took the disguise of a peasant, to 
make his escape ; but he was overtaken, recognised, and 
brought a prisoner to the conqueror. As soon as he was in 
the hands of the enemy, he said, he knew the fate which 
awaited him. " Had I Gen. Santa Anna in my power," said 
he, " I would shoot him instantly ; I am, therefore, recon- 
ciled to my destiny, and only wait to be shot." 

After a summary trial, Mejia was condemned to death. 
A priest was sent for, and the prisoner made his preparation 
for the fatal voyage. He had upon him a belt full of doub- 
loons, and a valuable watch. With the exception of a few 
doubloons to be divided amongst the soldiers who were to 
shoot him, the whole was bequeathed to the minister. They 
shot him about three hours after he had been captured, in 
the same way as such deeds are performed by all nations. 
Gen. Mejia died as a brave man and a Christian. 

The above statements were, moreover, corroborated by a 
corporal and two dragoons of Puebla, who escorted me from 
Nopaluca to Tepeyagualco, and having been in the affair of 
Acajeta were, with the whole army, witnesses of the whole 
proceeding. 

I have now before me a New Orleans paper, stating that 
Gen. Arista caused Col. Zapata to be beheaded, and his 
head to be sent to his native village ; in consequence of 
which, says the paper, so many rancheros or farmers have 
raised the standard of revolt, &c. Though I am not perso- 
nally acquainted with Gen. Arista, I fully believe it is a hene- 
volent appendage to the compliments which are systemati- 
cally paid to the unfortunate Mexicans : and I should not be 
astonished if we were by-and-by to hear that the Centralists 
have roasted a fat Federalist, and divided him among the 
staff. 

According to an article which lately appeared in one of 
the leading Eastern papers, and was copied by many others, 
that American rage is not confined to the modern Mexicans 
alone, but embraces the ancient Mexicans too. The said 
paper notices the excursions of Mr. Stephens, a gentleman 
who made himself known by an excellent work on the East, 



MEXICO AND HAVANNA. 57 

and who, being now a charge d'affaires to Central America, 
travels on scientific pursuits.* The same paper, alluding to 
the temples, obelisks, pyramids and other monuments of 
former ages, says, " It is absurd to cherish the belief that the 
original Mexicans were the architects of those splendid edi- 
fices, &c. Not even the ashes of the ancient Mexicans are 
to be left undisturbed. Let the editor of that paper say 
what he pleases, the history of the Aztecas or Mexicans is 
well known, from Acamapitzin to Montezuma, the ninth 
Mexican king ; as are known that of the Toltecas, from 
their king Chalchiutlanetzin, who reigned in the year 667 
of the Christian era, down to Topiltzin, who reigned in 1031 
— and that of the Chechemecas and other tribes, who cer- 
tainly built by themselves, their cities, temples, &c. 

The foundation of the city of Mexico happened in the 
year 1325. Who, then, must have erected their temples % 
Is it not well established, that the Aztecas or Mexicans built 
Tenochtitlan on the Lakes ] 

The same editor makes gross mistakes also, in reference 
to the objects of antiquity found by that scientific traveller 
in his excursions from Guatemala to some inland Mexican 
places. " The French and other European governments," 
says he, " will send savans to explore those countries; the 
yatchs of the wealthy will soon be directed towards the Gulf 
of Mexico ; and we rejoice that to the United States will be 
ascribed the merit of setting on foot these discoveries." 

I have too high an opinion of Mr. Stephens, to entertain 
any doubt that he may throw light on the antiquities of 
Mexico. His investigations will prove very interesting and 
useful ; but, as to setting discoveries on foot in that quarter, 
the afore-mentioned editor could hardly say so, if he had 
written in 1740 instead of 1840. As to Europe sending 
savans there, they were sent by Spain, Italy, France, Ger- 
many and England, when the editor's grandfather was per- 
haps a printer's apprentice. 

I am now going to take in hand another subject — the 
treatment of foreigners in the United States and Mexico. 

We must not forget that it is almost by instinct that fo- 
reigners complain of the land where they are compelled to 
look for hospitality; although it may be, in all respects, far 
superior to the country where nature made its first display 
before them. As every one knows the love of our native 
region makes us notice, when we are abroad, the contrast 
with our primitive manners and habits. As soon as we find 
ourselves placed amidst new people, we sigh at recollecting 
* Mr, Stephens has returned, 



58 A VOYAGE TO 

our dear relations and friends whom we left behind. Who 
that has a heart and does not, now and then, on reviewing 
the past, shed a tear ] Even when we meet with civilities, 
we cannot forbear complaining, we feel yet a vacuum in our 
heart ; we look in vain for that touching sensibility which 
charms and fills our soul ; we feel oppressed, our heart sinks. 
It is, however, an inborn weakness which acts upon, and 
in' spite of us. We are not reasonable enough to reflect that 
such links of the social chain, as those to which we are ac- 
customed when at home, are not the work of a moment, but 
of years and years. 

Nothing is more common than to hear complaints from 
foreigners against the people of the United States, and vice 
versa ; there are causes for it, which want to be studied, to 
efface some prejudices that are only intended to create mu- 
tual dissatisfaction. 

As almost all immigrants land in New- York, it ought to 
be understood and duly appreciated that just on account of 
pouring there, as they do en masse — except in cases of high 
reputation, talents, or titles, which find their way even into 
the hearts of that busy community — foreigners cannot expect 
to command much attention. Were the people of New- 
York to take special notice of the Europeans who, almost 
daily, present themselves with introductions, their brokers' 
or merchants' offices would soon be converted into agencies 
for aliens. Here is, then, a wrong notion in complaining, 
as foreigners generally do, of the first reception they meet 
with. Let them only think how they would be received by 
men in business in London or other commercial places in 
Europe, should they continually besiege them. 

The first, or perhaps only step of a foreigner landing in 
New- York, or any of the Eastern cities, should be to get in- 
troductions for the interior; as through them alone he will 
be able to show at any time what he is; he will not fail 
meeting with a warmer reception and all marks of kindness 
the farther inland he goes. 

In the same way that the frequent happening of an event 
first lessens, and finally destroys all its illusion and interest, 
a foreigner will be welcome where the arrival of aliens is 
not an hourly occurrence, and consequently not a matter of 
vexation. We read wonders about the hospitality of the 
ancients towards strangers ; let us, however, be persuaded 
that it proceeded entirely from the rare instance of seeing 
foreigners. One could, even now-a-days, experience the 
same treatment were one to travel through certain islands 
of Europe ; where the blaze of civilization has scarcely shone, 



MEXICO AND HAVANNA. 59 

one would meet with a rude, but hearty hospitality; which, 
although strange to the refinements of the populous cities, 
eclipses their pomp and ostentation. 

An error much prevalent among foreigners is to presume 
that immigration is looked upon with regret and even con- 
tempt by the Americans. To require from all persons the 
same sentiments and views would certainly be absurd; it 
must, nevertheless, be taken for granted that there exists 
too much common sense among the Americans not to re- 
member that immigration alone made the country what it 
is ; and I shall add, that centuries will pass, ere the Ameri- 
cans may be allowed to look with jealousy at the European 
emigrants. 

Is there any country where a foreigner sooner feels as if 
he were at home than in the United States 1 I say without 
hesitation — none. He is placed here, in the midst of a po- 
pulation where the word " foreigner" itself is almost a ridi- 
culous appellation, considering the Americans, as they are, 
transplanted beings ; where very few persons are to be found 
claiming an American origin farther back than two or three 
generations ; where, finally, whole cities and states are quite 
new, and have hardly attained the common age of men. 

There exists in some Americans an aversion to aliens, on 
the ground that they come to strengthen one or another of 
the political parties ; yet such persons do not reflect that, 
since the laws of the country grant them such right, it is 
much more the fault of the laws themselves than those to 
whom such right is extended. 

Now, I shall separate the immigration : the mass is com- 
posed of poor people, who come to the United States, either 
on their way to clear forests and make productive a soil, 
which, since the creation, waits for the hand of man; or to 
perform other heavy and not less useful works. He who 
understands political economy, and cherishes the welfare 
of his country, will know and say, that with such immigrants 
come riches under the guise of poverty; and he who does 
not understand figurative language has only to ponder what 
this country would be, were it not, as I said before, for im- 
migration. 

The other and comparatively small part of immigrants is 
made up of educated people, against whom complaints are 
frequently more bitter, because the Americans expect too 
much of them, and are but too often disappointed; where- 
upon, I beg leave to say, that this chiefly proceeds from a 
want of discrimination and judgment. 

It is usually the case that foreigners come — nobody knows 



60 A VOYAGfi TO 

whence, or any thing else about them — their appearance, 
carriage, and manners, however, being gentlemanlike, Ame- 
ricans feel prone to admit them into their society; but after 
a while many of them betray themselves, and turn out to be 
impostors or something worse; then a cry of indignation 
arises, a cry which indistinctly includes all strangers; and 
should one inquire on what ground they put confidence in 
the supposed gentlemen, they would be quite at a loss to 
make any admissible reply* 

Strangers may say what they please : I consider it as a 
fact that Americans are generally not only prone to associate 
v*ith new comers, but place implicit confidence in them ; 
and are too severe against the whole, when, by their own 
fault, they are deceived by some foreigner. 

I shall now point out the snares in which Americans are 
mostly caught. This being a nation which but lately, after 
a glorious and honourable struggle, arose to freedom, every 
thing which is connected with military deeds or character, 
as well as with exaggerated principles of liberty, is too much 
calculated to dazzle and excite the people ; hence the cu- 
rious fact that scarcely one real or apparently well-born 
stranger is to be met with in the United States, who is not, 
at least, a major or colonel, and has not fought many battles, 
all (if the age makes it half- credible) at the side of Napo- 
leon. Next come the oppressed sons of liberty, who have 
been driven from the shores of the old world by its many 
tyrants. Some of these unhappy patriots bear a most abo- 
minable resemblance to refugee convicts ; whilst others, who 
could at any time have gotten a premium for moving off, 
whine about their kings and ministers being afraid of them. 

Another means to which adventurers resort to win consi- 
deration, is to find out a noble extraction. Allow me to ob- 
serve that there is far more servility towards every thing 
savouring of real or assumed aristocracy in this republican 
land than in Europe, whereby the sworn proscribers of titles 
are charmingly duped by counts and barons, who scour the 
country until they are lodged in some goal. 

I will mention a fact which is necessary to illustrate how 
things stand in reference to the borrowed characters alluded 
to. Amongst the people more entitled to the sympathizing 
feelings of the Americans, there were and are the Poles — an 
unfortunate, but brave, heroic people. Some of them came 
from Prussia, England and France; the principal stock, 
however, if I am not mistaken, was sent to the United States 
by the Austrian government ; they were about three hun- 
dred and fifty, out of whom only sixty or seventy were offi- 



MEXICO AND HAVANNA. 61 

cers, the others being common soldiers ; now let me ask if 
any person has ever seen a Pole in the United States who 
was not an officer ? But that is not all. There are many 
counterfeit Poles, who never saw Poland, and choose to be 
thought Poles to command public sensibility. 

Let Americans be warned against such cheats ; let them 
be under the impression that, except in cases where the 
matter is incontestibly obvious, the more a foreigner as- 
sumes a high character, the more they ought to be on their 
guard ; and let them be convinced that, on account of die 
state of things in this country, when a stranger is really en- 
titled to such claims, he will never bring them forth, pro- 
vided a grain of common sense remains in him. 

After having said all this, it must be also observed that 
even honest foreigners are, in many instances, in some degree 
blameable, in carelessly permitting impositions of the kind, 
whilst it would be very easy for them to unmask impostors. 

I cannot close without speaking of a set of foreigners 
who make money by a misplaced public sympathy; and here 
I mean the bands of beggars who, with the most inconsistent 
stories, run about the country, and levy contributions on the 
Americans. This is a separate tribe of impostors, who by 
the documents they produce (which are always forged) 
might be called pate?it impostors. 

As I was told such vagrant mendicants have of late years 
greatly increased. The deaf, dumb, halt, blind and paraly- 
tic, in spite of all their infirmities, scale the Alleghanies or 
breast the father of rivers, and debouche chiefly on the plains 
of the " Great Valley." In old times, they had mostly to 
raise money for the purchase of their friends who were in 
captivity amongst the Algerines. After them appeared the 
earthquake gentry, whose possessions had been buried five 
fathoms deep in the burning lava; and finally came the peo- 
ple, whose earthly substance old Neptune had swallowed 
up, all they saved being brine enough for an ocean of tears. 

These chronicles have partly worn out. The land is 
overrun now with victims of European despotism. Their 
certificates tell of the marvellous sacrifices they made for 
opinion's sake, and challenge American sensibility to fill the 
pockets which have been rifled by the tyrant's rapacity. 

Many people are deluded by these miserables into what 
they conceive to be "benevolent acts." A patriot will die 
before his spirit stoops to beg ; and it is really surprising, 
how in a country where industry is the overruling principle, 
such impostors are not forcibly sent to work, since they 
evince a natural dislike to work for their bread. The mo- 



62 a voyage w 

ney which is given to them could be much better employed 
than in feeding idleness. 

I shall close with drawing a parallel between Europeans 
in the United States and the Americans in Europe, where, 
some say, they meet with a warmer reception. I believe 
so too ; let us not forget, however, the enormous discre- 
pancy which exists in number as well as in circumstances. 
For one American going to Europe there are five hundred 
or a thousand Europeans coming here; that is not all, Euro- 
peans come here to make, Americans go there to spend, 
money. Should Americans flock to Europe as money-ma- 
kers, I do not know whether they would be received at alL 
What I have vouched in favor of the United States cannot 
be said of Mexico. After having noticed the simple and 
hearty hospitality I met with on my way from Tampico to 
the capital, I must remark that, in my subsequent journey 
from Mexico to Vera Cruz, I saw just the reverse of the 
medal ; or rudeness and tricks. 

It will not be perhaps amiss to add here, that the first is a 
road, where but few travellers are occasionally to be seen; 
while there is, on the other, a daily passage of foreigners, 
who, as it very often happens in America, are not of the 
best caste: the contrast may then, somehow proceed from 
the travellers themselves; but when we descend to analyze 
the manner in which foreigners are looked upon in the cities 
(I speak here of Mexico and Puebla) where civilization has 
improved the manners ; and we see that foreigners are in 
general disliked or even hated ; in such case I say the whole 
nation is arraigned to plead, and shake off the imputation. 

I belong to a country, whose people are privileged by the 
Mexicans. I do not know, if it is from a sense of gratitude 
to some Italians like a Carochi, a Lorenzani, a Gemelli, and 
a Botturini, who devoted a part of their life to investigate on 
the spot Mexican antiquities, and contributed with their 
works to clear the horizon of their olden times ; or whether 
it comes from the affection they profess to an Italian, who 
has faithfully, and through all vicissitudes, served that coun- 
try (Gen. Filisola) — or finally, whether it is out of respect, 
which they would now be alone professing to the descend- 
ants of "old Rome;" but it is an undeniable fact, that they 
either like, or do not dislike Italians, whilst all other fo- 
reigners are openly disregarded. 

The Mexicans do not like the Spaniards, because they 
were once their masters — the French, because of their mo- 
nopolizing the retail trade in the city of Mexico, though, by 
their having reduced to one, the same imported articles 



MEXICO AND HAVANNA. 60 

which were sold before at three or four, the country has lost 
nothing — the Americans, for the causes which are well, 
known — the English, because they work their mines — all 
foreigners, in fine, for they control every branch of com- 
merce and industry; or in other words, they keep up the 
sinking vitality of their country; since, if the Mexicans had 
energy and spirit of enterprise, they could very easily dis- 
courage or get rid of such intruders. 

Only a few years ago, a foreigner in Puebla and other 
Mexican places, was often insulted even in the streets, merely 
for his being a stranger; so much influence has the thinking 
part of the population upon the lower classes. The progress 
of the country, however, and in some degree the Baudinade f 
or the taking of Ulua by admiral Baudin, brought them to 
better senses. 

After having thus related how foreigners are treated in 
Mexico, I must press harder upon the Mexicans, on the con- 
sideration that they possess a comparatively much better fo- 
reign society, taking it en masse, than the United States. 

I need not say that Mexico is almost free of the vagabonds 
or impostors, who scour to and fro this country. It would 
really, be too hard to make dupes there; however, two 
pseudo-friars of the celebrated convent of St. Bernard (Alps) 
who, pretending to be on a mission to collect money for the 
distressed convent, had cheated the president of the United 
States himself, and most of the leading men of the union, 
went on the same errand to the city of Mexico. They took 
their lodgings in the sumptuous convent of St. Francis, and 
had just begun awakening the sympathy of the believers, in 
favor of the well known hermitage, when they were detected 
as profane missionaries. One of them made his escape — 
the other was never heard of, and some suspicion is still 
abroad, that " all was not right about him." 

One who would trace the many witty and differently shaped 
cases of the kind as they occur in the United States, would 
highly amuse his readers. 

I am sorry to say, most, if not all patent impostors, are 
countrymen of Columbus, chiefly from the province of 
Genoa, whom we call cadenoni, and for whom there are es- 
tablished offices, I was told, in New- York, Baltimore, New- 
Orleans, and either Louisville or Cincinnati, at which they 
obtain their certificates. 

Some of them in former times, pushed their impudence so 
far as to assume respectable names of well known Italian 
refugees, and made plenty of money. One of them fell from 
a horse, a few years ago, in the neighborhood of Frankfort, 



64 A VOYAGE TO 

Kentucky, on whom a sum of $3000 was found, which no one 
ever claimed. Another built at Baltimore a schooner, and 
went home with a little cargo. I quote here facts; such is 
however the carelessness of the Americans, that they will 
never cease encouraging these impostors, even after having 
been made aware of them. 

It must be taken for granted that never did a refugee from 
my country beg in the United States. Their number may 
range now, from twenty to thirty, and they are all pursuing 
some business, all very much respected by the people amongst 
whom they reside — one of them, Mr. Tinelli, has been of 
late appointed American consul in Oporto. All Italian refu- 
gees, moreover, are, because they choose to be, here ; for 
they can go home at any time, after the amnesty which was 
granted by the Austrian and other governments, from which 
are only excluded active conspirators, or characters which 
would and could have nothing to do in the United States. 

With the hope that they may not prove contagious to 
American doctors, I shall relate two cases of professional 
imposition " on a large scale," which happened of late in the 
city of Mexico. 

One of them refers to an Italian doctor, who assisted a 
wealthy and highly respectable Englishman: his case was 
almost desperate; but thanks to a careful and proper treat- 
ment, the physician said, " he saved him." — I do not however ? 
admit of a doctor saving a patient, unless he authorizes me, 
in case of another patient's death, to suppose that he has 
hilled him — I say, then, the Englishman recovered, and the 
doctor's bill for his professional services, amounted to two 
hundred doubloons, or three thousand two hundred dollars I 
The Englishman, though a generous man, could not digest 
the doctor's last prescription and was sued; but the doctor 
was allowed only one dollar a visit for forty-two or forty- 
three visits. 

The other case was before the court when I left the capi- 
tal. A French physician had attended on an old Marchio- 
ness, who died. He claimed ten thousand dollars for his 
medical attendance. Should he gain the suit, it would be 
an inducement for any one to become a doctor on the Amer- 
ican steam system. It would not, at all events, be very dif- 
ficult to kill a patient, nor very unpleasant to pocket a small 
fortune ; but jests apart, such provoking occurrences are not 
well calculated to change the natural dispositions of the 
Mexicans towards foreigners. 



MEXICO AND HAVANNA. 65 



CHAPTER V. 

Arts in Mexico — Newspapers in that country and in the United 
States — Pamphlets — Religious papers — Prejudices and tolerance — 
The Catholic clergy in the United States — The Mexican clergy — 
Federalism vs. the clergy, or Generals Mejia, Urrea and Anaya — 
Abuses among that clergy, which demand reform — How the clergy 
of Mexico acted towards an American Catholic Bishop — Religious 
feelings of the Mexicans. 

Arts in Mexico are far behind what they were in ancient 
times. Fine arts have not yet made their appearance on the 
Mexican horizon. 

The newspapers published in Mexico are forty-six in 
number, besides some good periodical works. An Ameri- 
can will laugh at hearing of so few papers, some of which 
are weekly or semi-weekly; but there,., as it is in Europe, 
the editorial mania is a stranger. They have not an idea of 
the American papers, seven eighths of which are devoted to 
either new or decrepit and useless advertisements, including 
some of those which refer to " secret diseases;" unexcep- 
tionably, most shameless and indecent pieces of scandal, 
greatly contrasting with the American claims to " moral su- 
premacy." Advertisements referring to pills, liniments, 
syrups and other universal remedies or quacks, always oc- 
cupy a considerable space of the American papers, the bal- 
ance of the sheet containing political items and most outrage- 
ous charges against the opposite party. 

I am under the impression that American statements are 
not much to be relied upon; exaggeration being a great fa- 
vourite among them ; yet even if the Americans had above 
eleven thousand papers, as I saw once reported, they have not 
more than twenty good ones, and none equal to some of the 
English or French publications; while I allow that the diffu- 
sion even of so many poor papers, most of which are edited 
altogether with the scissors, is beneficial to the country for 
the information they convey on matters of fact which interest 
the whole nation. 

For the rest, nothing on earth is more transitory than 
American papers. Every sun rising sees the appearance of 
some new born, which often do not breathe farther than mid- 
day; every sun-set tells the agony or decease of others, 
either young or old. 

The violent and brutal way in which the papers rush 
against one another, principally in party matters, is again 

g 3 



66 A VOYAGE TO 

in opposition to the pretension of the Americans in point of 
excellency. 

Every one can see, there is nothing sacred in their eyes. 
The American papers indiscriminately libel the principles, 
character and conduct of any man who is bound to the oppo- 
site faction. If but half of what the parties say through 
them, of each other, on the eve of an election were true, 
they would constantly send notorious scoundrels to the 
legislature of their States, to congress, or anywhere else. — 
It may be a convenient mode of discussing politics ; it is how- 
ever, repugnant to every well-thinking man; whilst it does 
not reflect any credit or honor either upon their public offi- 
cers, or on the country. 

When some local or private question arises, the papers 
lend some columns to the parties ; but as soon as the ques- 
tion grows so hot, that the insertion of such communications 
would endanger empiricism, another expedient is resorted 
to by the combatants — that of pamphlets. 

I witnessed a very warm contest between two medical 
institutions which existed in Cincinnati, viz : the Ohio Medi- 
cal College, a State institution, and the Medical College of 
Cincinnati, a private and opposition one. The professers 
of the last quarrelled with the others, and finally declared, 
they would annihilate the State institution. Pamphlets were 
issued, in which the bitterest animosity was displayed. One 
of the professors of the opposition college particularly, had 
expressed himself that it was " a war of extermination 
waged against the other institution ;" and, at the eve of the 
township election, which was to decide the point in question, 
he published a pamphlet whose title was " Extermination 
War," which the author himself handed to me. The title 
bespeaks the contents. The election, however, turned 
against him ; the enemy was left master of the field ; the 
Cincinnati Medical College fell. 

What remains now for us to say of such prostitutors of 
science ] I shall only make an allusion to the " old corrupt- 
ed world/' and assert that nowhere in Europe would the 
exterminating warrior have filled a chair again, as he fills it 
at this time close by the theatre of his late exploits, even if 
he had been a Gralenus or a Hippocrates. 

What looks, after all still worse, is to see the same course 
pursued in religious topics. Americans pretend to say that 
there is more religion in the United States than any where 
else; but they mistake sectarianism for religion. Can there 
be religion without charity % I believe not. Where is charity 
to be found? I cannot see it, indeed, where religion is 



MEXICO AND HAVANNA. 67 

marshalled into so many different congregations, exhibiting 
the features of as many factions, unmercifully abusing, de- 
faming and tearing each other — brethren and sisters to-day, 
because they belong to the same congregations, they become 
enemies to-morrow because the wall of a new church sepa- 
rates them. 

I do not quote fiction, but facts. Nothing is more com- 
mon in the United States than to see an eminent man com- 
ing out and prevailing upon a part of his assembled "breth- 
ren," in reference to some slight alteration or different shade 
of faith. They become dissenters, separate, and form a new 
sect. The immediate result of these frequent occurrences be- 
ing that of parcelling, and spreading acrimony among society. 

Some, I have no doubt, will exclaim, behold the Catho- 
lic ! I shall show, however, in referring to religion in 
Mexico, as well as to the Mexican clergy, that I am not 
moved by any keen feeling. Catholics are accused of being- 
intolerant; yet there cannot be a grosser absurdity — say 
Catholics are indifferent in what concerns religion, and I 
shall grant it ; but do not say intolerant. The lower classes 
are the most prejudiced in the Catholic world, and even they 
will grieve " that the door of heaven is not open to the Re- 
formers ;" but there is no hatred about them, it being now- 
a-days entirely a Protestant importation. I know places 
even in Italy, where there exist churches of different deno- 
minations ; in Italy, I say, where resides the head of the 
" old established church;" of that church whereof all the re- 
formed are but branches. There people will hear inquiries 
made about a new acquaintance, touching his character, not 
his religion. They will ask if he is a correct man, not 
whether he goes to church, or to what church he belongs. 
There every one takes care of his own conscience, and none 
go to church to win public opinion. There a Christian is 
always the same Christian, and a spirit of union, which is in 
accordance with the word of Grod, reigns. There a mother 
instructs her children in the duties of the Christian, all in 
the same, not each of them in a different belief. There none 
will ever think of changing his creed for the sake of better- 
ing his circumstances. Here, how many professional men 
have I heard talking about joining another church, and how 
many have I seen actually embracing a different sect, to 
ingratiate themselves amongst their new " brethren," and 
thus increase their practice or patronage ! Nor are Catho- 
lics in this country altogether free from the infection. I was 
told of a desertion which took place from their ranks in 
Louisville, Kentucky. At the fall elections, a candidate for 



68 A VOYAGE TO 

I know not what public office, and a Catholic, presuming he 
had a better chance of success, made for the Presbyterian 
church; but — laugh if you please — he was beaten. 

Such a man, as well as any Protestant, acting vice versa, 
on the same consideration, would be driven out from any 
circle in Italy, and all Europe. I have seen many Jews em- 
brace the Catholic faith; but unless they are evidently sin- 
cere converts, they are openly despised both by their old and 
their new confraternity. 

What do the admirers of "American tolerance' ' now say 
about certain characters who are unknown in the European 
countries, but very common here ] I mean the persons 
who, for the sake of their support, are compelled either to 
deceive people about their religion, or to cover it with the 
veil of mystery. I know many such instances, but more par- 
ticularly one in which a gentleman, successfully engaged in 

teaching in , is in disguise as regards his religion. 

He is a good teacher, and has a large school ; but, God bless 
him, if his " patrons" were to find out that he is a Catholic ! 
they would immediately take away their children from him. 
As a measure of self-defence, he was obliged to send his 
children far way, for fear that they might betray his secret. 
I do not know if the threatened destruction of a convent in 
Baltimore, which, last year, was solely prevented by the 
firmness of the mayor — the destruction of the Ursuline Con- 
vent in Charlestown, Massachusetts, which was not long ago 
razed to the ground by the charitable Puritans of Boston, 
or some other similar events, not excepting the late perse- 
cution of the Mormons, must be put to the account of the 
proclaimed religious tolerance of this country ; but the most 
striking difference, as regards intolerance between the Catho- 
lics of this time, almost anywhere, and the American Pro- 
testants, is to be felt in the highest classes ; for they are de- 
cidedly the most intolerant and the greatest bigots in this 
country, whilst among such classes in almost all the Catholic 
world, all ancient prejudices are blotted out. 

Most certainly nothing will astonish my friends at home 
more than perceiving me engaged in religious subjects. I 
must confess I had, when there, no idea of the noise which 
is made here about religion: my notions on this head were 
plain and simple ; I looked on all sects as being pretty much 
the same, all leading by different paths, which the restless am- 
bition of men has opened, to the adoration of the same Princi- 
ple of all created things. I was taught to appreciate an honest 
Turk as better than a faithless Catholic; to look, as I do, 
with respect upon pious people of every description or creed, 



MEXICO AND HAVANNA. 69 

and with contempt, as I likewise do, upon false, deceitful, 
hypocritical worshippers. Had it been possible, my thoughts 
would have become confused, and would have overwhelmed 
me since my residence in this "land of tolerance. " 

Going back now to the starting point, I shall allude to the 
newspapers which are edited by some soi-disant reverends 
of the many creeds, on pretended Christian arguments, or 
to vindicate the sect to which they belong. If any one ex- 
pects to see theological theses and conclusions, he will be 
disappointed. What such papers chiefly contain, is denun- 
ciations against other sects ; the Catholics have not to com- 
plain of a scanty share ; some are purposely established to 
decry them. 

I was giving a Spanish lesson to a young lady, on Josse's 
grammar, when, greatly to my astonishment, I found many 
words effaced, such as skin, shirt, and others ; which, as I 
understood afterwards, were offensive to her chaste eyes. 
The lesson being over, I was talking with her, when she 
handed me a paper, called " The Protestant Herald," say- 
ing, as if unconcerned, " read it; there is something which 
will interest you;" and I have ample reason to suppose 
that a by-no-means chaste account or charge of concubinage, 
preferred by the reverend editor against a Catholic priest, 
was the subject alluded to; which was 'most probably a ca- 
lumny; for would that through the whole Catholic world 
there were as good ministers as in the United States, where 
they are individually as much respected as their church is, 
by too many, looked upon with aversion. Not only are the 
Catholic priests in this country, with few exceptions, pious 
and exemplary in their conduct, but at the same time tole- 
rant and unprejudiced as they ought always to be. Were 
it otherwise, there would not exist so many Catholic insti- 
tutions " patronized and supported by the Protestants them- 
selves, who frequent in a large majority even the Kentucky 
schools, in spite of so many vituperations directed against 
them by the barking paper of which I have just spoken.* 

In one respect, there is much tolerance (if it is not un- 
concernedness) in the United States; that is, in letting 
their children profess what creed they choose ; parents sel- 
dom interfere with them ; wherefrom the case so often oc- 
curs of there being as many members of various churches 
as there are members of a family, 

* The St. Joseph's College, as well as the Nazareth and Lore to 
Female Academies, are by far more numerously attended thm any 
other institution in that State. 



^ A VOYAGE TO 

To close the subject, if I were asked whether people fre- 
quent church more in the United States than in the Euro- 
pean Catholic countries, I should be rather embarrassed to 
give any founded opinion ; whilst I should not hesitate a mo- 
ment remarking that if there exists any difference, it is ac- 
counted for by the fact, that here -many go to church more 
for the sake of others than of themselves; at the same time 
that some attend mass or sermon there, but for himself and 
of his own impulse. 

I perceive I have told many rude truths on this subject, 
and ladies especially will be angry against such a bold 
chronicler; however, I reserved for the last an allusion to 
them. I declare, then, that I look upon the American ladies 
(as ladies are on the whole globe), as the truest and more 
conscientious believers. 

It comes now in turn for me to speak of the Mexican 
clergy, and the standing of religion in Mexico. 

Since the emancipation of that country from the Spanish 
sway, the Mexican clergy have lost immense amounts of 
money and property. Right Rev. Dr. Posada, or the now 
acting archbishop of Mexico — a worthy prelate, who has not, 
however, the firmness and energy which are required to sup- 
press very many abuses — has assured me, that the losses of 
the clergy from the above mentioned era may be calculated 
at one hundred millions of dollars. The archiepiscopal seat 
of Mexico had formerly an income of eighty thousand dollars, 
which is now reduced to thirty thousand, besides extras. 
There has never existed perhaps so rich a congregation as the 
Mexican clergy were in former times, since, after so many 
losses, they are still enormously rich. 

It is said the Mexican clergy rule the country, and in some 
measure, it is true. From the emancipation of Mexico 
down to the present day, two powerful factions have inces- 
santly struggled for supremacy, and one of them has always 
thirsted after the riches of the clergy. The doctrines dis- 
seminated by the French revolution were kept down, during 
the Spanish regime, by a well organized power; but, could 
not be totally controlled by the relaxed and tottering 
governments which succeeded it. Whenever a danger 
approached, either to sustain their natural protectors, or to 
bribe and soften their enemies, the priests were forced to 
surrender a part of their riches to save the whole ; on which 
principle is the struggle going on, even at this time. The 
present government, between which and the clergy a con- 
tract has passed, supports the clergy; obtaining in return the 
support of their influence; and when circumstances urge, 



MEXICO AND HAVANNA. 71 

pecuniary assistance ; yet, to the point they fear so much 
arriving at, they will, notwithstanding their efforts, be drag- 
ged, by an irresistible force- — the progress, however slow, of 
minds and events. 

How does Federalism now stand in reference to the 
clergy] They pretend to reform it; however, the moral 
features of their party are not such as to inspire with confi- 
dence—on the contrary, serious apprehensions ought to be 
entertained, that in case of success, the reforms of the Feder- 
alists would consist in laying hands on the property of the 
clergy, and nothing else. 

On such a subject, I deem it unnecessary to disclaim par- 
tiality. I shall, therefore, speak without any restraint of the 
men who raised lately or now bear the revolutionary flag, to 
whom and the party they represent, I shall refer again in 
conversing upon the political situation of that unhappy 
country. 

Gen. Mejia, of whose end I have spoken before, was one 
of those men whom the blind goddess takes by the hand, and 
leads to play characters, for which they are unfit and unpre- 
pared. In his youth, Mejia was a rope-dancer, and as such 
travelled through the United States. From that low condi- 
tion he had jumped pretty high ; but like most of the jxirve- 
nus, he got intoxicated, and a throne would scarcely have 
arrested his ambitious steps. He had some talents, but 
many vices too. Suffice it to say, that, though married to 
an English lady, he was likely to have introduced into 
Mexico, had he been victorious, the fashion of the harems. 

Gen. Urrea, the little he acted was done in the most tor- 
tuous and mischievous manner; the accusations of embez- 
zlements and extortions with which he is publicly charged 
by many, speak, if true, of his character. 

We come to Gen. Anaya; from the little I could judge of 
him, he would be the last man I should dream of as a leader 
of any revolution — never mind; let us proceed. At the time 
of their war against the mother country, he became a chief 
of the insurgents : afterwards he made his submission to the 
Spaniards, and served as a guide to a captain of grenadiers 
to surprise his former brothers in arms : during the whole 
contest, he played the part of a real Proteus. I derived this 
information from a source of undoubted veracity. At the 
end he followed the fortune of the Mexican government; 
was given the commission of General of division in the 
army ; and was, of late, undeservedly struck from the roll. 
Gen. Anaya went through Texas, to New Orleans, to enrol 



12 A VOYAGE TO 

foreigners and march with them against Mexico. The fact 
alone of having mingled with the professed enemies of his 
own country, shows what kind of a patriot he is ; then, his 
indiscriminate appeal to mercenary foreigners completely 
disgraced him. Cursed be the traitor, who, to settle do- 
mestic broils, invokes foreign assistance ! but a very striking 
contradiction is to be found between his late appeal and 
some precedent acts of his, which breathe the bitterest ha- 
tred against foreigners. 

Are such men qualified to operate the innovation which 
the country and the church want] — no: it is not refor- 
mers who proceed by destruction that Mexico needs, but 
philosophical reformers. They need a Ganganelli, a Scipion 
da Ricei, a Joseph the second, or a Leopold of Tuscany; 
they need men of resolution and integrity, to raze the abu- 
ses with a spirit of justice and devotedness to the cause of 
G-od and society; not partisans, who, animated by the frenzy 
of covetousness or revenge, endeavor to dictate laws with 
the point of their swords. 

Amidst the abuses referred to, the wealth of the clergy is 
the first. As a sage said, " virtue has not a greater enemy 
than wealth :" then the church of Christ needs nothing beyond 
what is compatible with dignity and propriety. The exist- 
ence of so many rich congregations proves a curse to any 
country; as the administration of their estates is always de- 
fective, and yields but illicit profits to their managers. They 
do not support one half the people they ought to support; 
nor is the case applicable to Mexico alone ; it has been prac- 
tically proved, when the suppression of the convents took place 
in some parts of Europe. The same estates, from changing 
hands and falling under the direction of private owners, were 
in a few years, so much improved as to give double income. 
The clergy think of obtaining what they want to maintain their 
luxuries, without sharpening their minds at all, for bettering 
their revenues. These immense estates languishing thus 
idle in the hands of the clergy, instead of being improved by 
speculative and industrious people, do great injury to Mexico. 
In the capital and in Puebla, one cannot turn his eyes with- 
out hearing — this belongs to such a church, that to such a 
convent, and so on. The religious congregations own more 
than a half of the real estates in the two above cities, sepa- 
rately from what they own in the country. 

The clergy must not be rich, I say it again, for they are 
men ; and as all other men, subject to passions. Riches bring 
many vices in their train, and the vices of the clergy are 
subversive of public order. 



MEXICO AND HAVANNA. 73 

Practice corroborates the preceding axioms in the case 
of the Mexican priests. They are as far from the primitive 
manner of the church as from the times of Adam, 

My readers will recollect, I pointed at priests attending 
gambling houses. I saw moreover friars in their full dress, 
publicly playing billiards in presence of crowds of people ; 
and was half amused, half ashamed at their movements, ren- 
dered quite curious by their tunics, A sense of decency 
holds me back from parading the details of their worldly 
life ; although, what is said in reference to unworthy minis- 
ters does not imply, with me at least, any disrespect towards 
what cannot be polluted. In noticing the Mexican regulars 
or seculars who act inconsistently with the sacred duties of 
their holy ministry, I intend to show them divested of their 
character, and do not hesitate saying, that they are the most 
corrupted members of the Mexican family; nor will my 
charge seem rash to those who may reflect that, bound as 
they are to foster virtue by their conduct, they assume, by 
the scandalous examples they set, a part of the criminality of 
others, 

A hasty and radical reform alone, can revive religion 
there. There must be at the head a great reduction, if not 
total suppression, of the regular orders; then, the curtailing 
of all superfluities amongst the seculars, . 

Whether their wealth is adapted to good purposes, the 
following account will tell. 

There is in the United States a Catholic bishop, who 
represents by himself the whole clergy of his church in the 
State where he resides. He is as poor as Job. He wants 
means to build churches; there being in the whole State but 
the chapel in which he officiates. Experience has proved 
in this country, that, by erecting churches, the Catholics 
rally, and Catholicism becomes more and more propagated. 
The poor bishop, one of those clergymen who, by self-denial 
and constant employment in the service of God, as well as 
in the alleviation of their fellow beings, do so much honor to 
their church, and exhibit such holy characters as in no other 
creed are to be found; answered a call from each of his 
brethren, and either to assist the sick and dying, or to com- 
fort the afflicted, he was continually riding from distance to 
distance; nor did ever the inclemency of the weather detain 
him from his pious works of consolation. At last nature 
proved rebellious; his frame was sinking; he fell sick, and 
his life was despaired of; he recovered however, and had 
resumed his sacred duties when I saw him. He told me he 



74 A VOYAGE TO 

intended to go, after the bishop's Convention at Baltimore 4 , 
to Europe. We then talked about bishops Flaget and 
Parcell, who had returned with a good harvest of money and 
valuables, which they had collected in France, Italy and 
Germany, for the purpose of building new temples under 
their dioceses. 

I took the liberty to remark, that he would meet probably 
with some difficulty in Europe, on account of the number of 
prelates and clergymen who go there on such errands. As 
I was on my way to Mexico, I told him I would see if some- 
thing could be done there, for his jurisdiction. I knew that 
none had ever been there on such a mission ; and knowing 
also, how rich the Mexican clergy were, I anticipated a favor- 
able result of the commission with which I wished to be en- 
trusted. The prelate assented. 

One of my first steps in the city of Mexico was to wait upon 
the archbishop, to whom I made the disclosure. " Well/' 
said he, "we shall see: it is a delicate matter; I must speak 
about it with the minister of the interior and of the chapter,' ' 
The answer came, and it purported, that they were too jpoor, 

and could not encourage the worthy bishop of , to visit 

Mexico on the intended errand; so that, money for living luxu- 
riously and feeding their profane appetites, as they do in the 
most indecorous way, they have plenty; but, for assisting a 
minister of the gospel in so sacred an emergency, in the dif- 
fusion of the word of God — they have none. 1 wrote back 
to the prelate and informed him of my failure. 

As soon as both regulars and seculars should be reduced 
to a competent but moderate treatment, a great many deser- 
tions would take place from their ranks — so much the better ! 
each soldier lost in that way would prove a gain to religion. 
The cities then would not be any longer nurseries of lazy 
fat beings openly given up, without the least restraint, to 
bad practices of every kind. In the cities they swarm; but 
how is it in the country % In the country, they have not a 
single clergyman, sometimes on an extent of fifty miles or 
more. Make the profession as it must be, not a soft, com- 
modious and agreeable station in life, and the clergy will 
muster men inspired with true devotion. Take away from 
them the pleasures of a city residence, and they will flock to 
the country, where the sick and dying will be no longer de- 
prived of the succour of religion. There is besides, another 
and most important mission which rests with them — that of 
spreading instruction amongst the poor, who are now but a 
shade above automata. Let civilization take the place of the 



MEXICO AND HAVANNA 75 

now prevalent darkness, and society will change face. Let 
the clergymen, above all, eradicate the many religious pre- 
judices adopted by the Mexicans. As Plato said, there are 
two rocks, between which religion is placed, that are equally 
dangerous to man and injurious to God — impiety and super- 
stition. The one from an affectation of free thinking, be- 
lieves nothing; the other from a blind meekness, believes 
every thing — such is the case with the Mexicans. 

Allow me to repeat here, that none except philosophers 
or correct men, must undertake the reform; and I wish I 
were wrong in adding that they have to look abroad for an 
importation of such men. The immense property of so 
many rich communities must not, after all, become the prey 
of the reformers ; it must be employed to relieve the country 
from the embarrassment in which it is at present entangled. 

What is the religious standing of Mexico, after such a 
confusion of things : I expect, many will be anxious to know 
— I shall tell it — -indifference ! that great sin of all Catholic 
countries, is the order of the day there, among the higher 
classes; and as I have already hinted, superstition amongst 
the poor. 

When the holy sacrament is brought from one place to 
another, every one takes off his hat and follows to some dis- 
tance the procession. In some places, they will fall and rest 
on their knees, as long as they see the coach or canopy, under 
which the sacred bread is carried. If that were the sponta- 
neous impulse of so many conscientious, ardent worshippers, 
what other spectacle would be more moving? but, mingle 
with the procession, approach the kneeling groups, and you 
will clearly see that it is a mere mechanical, conventional 
and hypocritical act, established by long usage; whereto all 
must submit, unless one may be disposed to run the chance 
of being lynched on a small scale. 

Things in this respect, are much worse in Puebla than in 
the city of Mexico, which is accounted for from the fanatical 
man they have at the head of their diocess. People in 
Europe do not bow so much before sovereigns as the Pue- 
blans do before priests or friars. Sentinels make the mili- 
tary salute at every ecclesiastic passing by. 

Gren. Codallios, the same whom I mentioned before, show- 
ed lately great energy by resisting, with success, a whim of 
the bishop. It was at the last carnival that the Mexicans 
introduced the old Italian fashion, now in full decline, of 
the masks. Elsewhere in the Republic all went right, or 
even too much so, because, against the Roman ordinances, 

h2 



76 A VOYAGE TO 

they had masks and halls in lent, without any interference 
from the clergy; in Puebla, however, the bishop opposed 
the newly imported frolic, and a warm conversation ensued 
between him and the general governor. The bishop threat- 
ened he would, in case of persistance in having masks, 
cause the churches to be shut up, but he slackened after- 
wards, on hearing that the Governor would have them 
opened with the cannon. 

The churches of Mexico are crowded on festival days: 
there is not, however, one man for three women. Only a 
year ago, it was in that Republic, as in former times through- 
out all the Catholic world. They had numberless holy and 
half-holy days. A pontifical bull, issued at the end of 1839, 
reduced the moveable holidays to a few in number : a mea- 
sure which will very likely prove advantageous to that 
country, whose lazy inhabitants were delighted with having 
such an unexceptionable pretext to avoid work. 

I must pause now, to say, that I am aware of the satis- 
faction that many Christians, not Catholics, will feel, in 
reading my sad accounts of the clergy and religion in Mex- 
ico. On this consideration, as well as for fear of the stings 
of the pseudo reverend editors of the religious papers in this 
babel of sects, some tried to prevail upon me to suppress 
this chapter; I replied, that if any of the same editors, in 
their most Christian dispositions to slander Catholicism, 
would take advantage of my accounts, to publish them, 
without repeating all that I said referring to religion, I 
would consider it as a mean piracy. 

The excesses to which the Mexican clergy are given up 
do not imply an accusation against the mass of the Catholic 
priests. As free from any pre-occupation, as if I were 
not a Catholic, and without taking into consideration how 
much easier it is to be a good Protestant minister than a 
good Catholic clergyman, for the infinitely different duties, 
restrictions and sacrifices which are incumbent upon the lat- 
ter, I say, the Catholic European clergy stand now as high 
as that of any reformed church. Spain and Portugal evin- 
ced, even of late, the same propensities of the Mexican cler- 
gy; but they are about completing a thorough and salutary 
reform; while it is to be hoped that the kings of the two 
Sicilies and Sardinia may ere long place their clergy on the 
same footing as that of Germany, France and the other Ita- 
lian States, 



MEXICO AND HAVANNA. 77 

CHAPTER VI. 

The President of the Republic of Mexico and Gen. Filisola— Public 
morality in that country — A Mexican minister to Prussia — Revolu- 
tionary events, and the'ir effects on Mexico— Federalism and Fede- 
ralists — Errors in reference to the government of Mexico — The 
freedom of the press — Corruption — A contract for the government 
troops in Matamoras — Custom-house regulations — Smuggling — 
National debt of Mexico — Iturbide — Santa Anna at St. Jacinto and 
Vera Cruz — A false charge against Americans and Mexicans — 
Gen. Jackson's opinion of Santa Anna. 

I have already made some allusion to the political condi- 
tion of Mexico, but I shall now take the subject fairly in 
hand. 

The president of that republic is an able general ; and, 
whatever may be said against him by his political opponents, 
he is a correct man ; he has one eminent qualification which 
none perhaps dream of as being of such weight — he is poor; 
and to be poor after having been, as he was, in many an 
affair amidst the corruption which gnaws society there, is 
the highest encomium of his character. It shows the man 
who does not fatten himself on the wrecks of his country; 
what he needs is energy. Gen. Filisolais another vara avis, 
or adheres to the same infallible touchstone ; but few others, 
very few, can stand comparison with the two above-men- 
tioned generals ; because if there is any high officer of the 
republic poor, it is owing to his dissipated habits — chiefly 
gambling. Such is the case with a Mexican diplomatist, 
who some time ago created a great stir at Washington. It 
is well understood that such people are doubly dangerous 
when they fall below par, since they must any how make 
money, and they are familiar with the ways of getting it. 

To say that public morality is unknown in that country, 
would be too much ; where else, however, are officers of the 
government to be seen robbing as openly and publicly as 
if they were going to church % Nor is that all ; such facts, 
though quite notorious, are overlooked with a stoical indiffe- 
rence. Their representatives will go calmly from the legis- 
lature to a gambling house, or vice versa. I should not be 
astonished if they were to talk about their good or ill luck 
even in the hall. I heard of two congressmen who were not 
ashamed to pawn their salary at twenty-five per cent, discount. 
They receive two hundred dollars per month, which is more 
than enough to support themselves ; vice then, nothing else 
but vice, can force them to renounce all sense of dignity. 

Here comes an amusing anecdote about Mr. B , who 

h 3 



78 A VOYAGE TO 

was sent a few years ago as a minister to the court of Prus- 
sia. He left Mexico with some attaches, and went to Paris, 
They found it such a charming place, that they could not 
help halting there ; gambling, and committing every kind of 
extravagance. In the meantime a nonsensical expedition 
to Savoy, for the purpose of freeing Italy was planned by a 
handful of Italian refugees who had retired to France. It 
was an affair a long time before spoken of, and it failed. 
Our Mexican diplomatist, regardless of his character, took 
an active part in it, and shared the defeat. At last the Mexi- 
can unguent had melted away ; to sustain the rank of minis- 
ter at Paris was as impossible as to proceed to Berlin. 
They sold or pawned their furniture as well as their embroi- 
dered uniforms, and the whole legation (all Federalists) went 
gloriously home ! 

Immorality and corruption being predominant among the 
heads and officers of the various branches of the administra- 
tion, there cannot be a good government ; and I should de- 
ceive my readers were I to call the present Mexican govern- 
ment good. 

When audaciousness reigns, justice is dumb; and every 
thing contributes to render the guilty more presumptuous, 
as is unhappily the case with Mexico ; the fault weighs upon 
the government, which is always answerable for all such 
disorders. The only excuse the Mexicans might adduce is, 
the unsettled state of the country ; and I am ready to allow 
that the revolutionary movements which incessantly disturb 
their country in all directions, would be more than sufficient 
to paralyze the action of even a much better government. 
Why now do such movements happen so frequently ] Is it 
not for want of management on the part of the rulers ] I 
fully believe it is; and where there is not peace, there can- 
not be prosperity. It is long since Mexico has been tossed 
from commotion to commotion. That . country requires a 
strong and firm government to escape such repeated blows. 
Constituted as they are now, it is morally impossible for the 
Mexicans to collect every where forces capable of quelling 
the different movements at their birth. 

I must be permitted to say that the government of Mexico 
should have better agents than it has abroad. A week after 
my arrival in the capital, conversing with a high officer of 
the government, I well understood that he was ignorant of 
many facts which I knew, though not having any interest in 
the matter : not even the proclamation which Gen. An ay a 
issued in January, to engage foreigners to join him was 
known to that government. 



MEXICO AND HAVANNA, 79 

Somewhat then for want of information and quickness, 
somewhat for local difficulties, they have constantly a re-ac- 
tion to oppose here, and an invasion to check there ; and 
some confusion every where. They march and repel one 
faction ; but they have hardly done with it, when another 
springs up requiring immediate interference from the go- 
vernment, whose attention is thus absorbed by endless politi- 
cal convulsions. Self-defence obliges them to keep a watch 
on the march of events, and they cannot devote so much at- 
tention to the improvement of the social condition of the 
country as it requires. 

Let us look at the elements that compose Federalism. Un- 
less I am greatly mistaken, believe me, they are something 
worse than the predominant party; as they would be truly 
at a loss to find among them even a Bustamente. With that 
specious word " liberty," so often misused, and nearly always 
deceitful, the Federalists take their ground, proclaiming the 
country in the hands of imaginary tyrants. They make in- 
roads that always prove abortive, for want of sympathy 
among the people, most of whom know too well how they 
long for plunder and power. 

Among the Federalists there are many who, disappointed 
and sorry that they did not succeed, addict themselves — can 
my readers divine what to 1 — to hunting the purses of tra- 
vellers on the public road. I could name, were it not from 
regard to some person, two Federalists who w^ere brought 

in contraband to . They openly said, " we have lost 

our offices ; nothing is left to us ; we must make money 
somehow ;" and then they would curse the government 
which compelled them " to trade on the road." Oh ! for such 
patriots who, for the rest, have not been scarce in Spain too, 
during the never-ceasing civil strife of that ill-fated peninsula. 

The greatest enemies of Mexico, in my opinion, are the 
Federalists. They keep up a wavering and ruinous state of 
things. They apologize, in some degree, for that govern- 
ment which answers but imperfectly the confidence and 
wants of the country. If instead of brandishing the sword 
they were to rally around the standard of the constitutional 
power, and enlighten it in reference to the welfare of the 
country, would it not be much more patriotic ] I expect 
to hear them saying, that they cannot reconcile themselves 
to such Robespierres or Dan tons ; yet, rely upon me, they 
are all visions. 

Let us suppose that one of the two parties existing in the 
United States should resort to arms, in order to secure the 
victory; suppose, moreover, that they should rise repeatedly. 



BO A VOYAGE TO 

and fight a couple of battles here and there, could the go- 
vernment rightly be called brutal and tyrannical for opposnig 
and subjecting to the rigor of the laws the leaders of the 
rebellious party ? We must not forget that a government, 
in most of such cases, resorts to strong measures ; not so much 
for punishing the guilt of revolt in itself, as for intimidating 
others, and holding them back from attempting new distur- 
bances. 

The present government of Mexico, I think is bad, much 
more for not doing what it ought to do, than by misdoing. 
Corruption is the rock against which the vessel of the state 
strikes so violently as to threaten her sinking; but it would 
be decidedly unjust to call it an ill-intentioned and oppres- 
sive government: on the contrary, should I say all that I 
think of it, I would style it too indulgent Were it not so, 
less or no intestine troubles would happen. 

Much has been said against the project of law for the 
suppression of the freedom of the press. The people of the 
United States are right to wonder at such a projected bill, 
although in many instances some restraint on the press, even 
in this country would obviate scandal. 

The liberty of the press, like many other laws, is in the 
intention of the legislator beneficial, while its results prove 
very often diametrically opposite. The legislator thinks 
men must have it as a medium to unmask abuses and point 
at vice. Who will object against his aim? However, do 
men keep within the limits assigned to them by the lawgiver? 
Do they make use of it according to his intention 1 No ; 
the freedom of the press, instead of holding abuses in subjec- 
tion, frequently unbridles them ; from a contemplated bar- 
rier to evil, arises a school of vice and licentiousness. As 
soon then as the contract is forfeited by one of the parties, 
has not the other a right to dissolve it on the ground that a 
designed good turned out a curse 1 

What matters .more after all is, that the Americans must 
never compare their political institutions and structure with 
those of Mexico. The Mexicans, in the enthusiasm created 
by the American revolution, and its laurel of 1814 — 15, 
thought of imitating their neighbours, and becoming republi- 
cans — fatal error! for their country did not contain the 
germs of a commonwealth. They have been, and will long 
be, poor imitations of a system which they do not even com- 
prehend. Whilst then, in this well-formed and strongly 
established confederacy, the free press must be an integral 
part of its noble institutions, it is not so in that mimic repub- 
lic. Here, some meetings or some elbowing at the polls 



MEXICO AND HAVANNA. 81 

make the war; there, they actually fight. Every thing is 
quiet here ; all is unsettled there ; and, as under those des- 
pots the press is (if it could be) more impertinent and auda- 
cious than it is here, a restriction would certainly do good 
to that country. An article in a paper here pleases, or ex- 
cises the reader ; there, it may induce people to take up 
arms against the government. Here, papers preach reform ; 
there, rebellion. Is there any comparison between the Uni- 
ted States and Mexico ] 

I may be wrong, but I consider the doctrines of Federalism, 
even if they were bona fide principles, erroneous and inap- 
plicable to the present social condition of Mexico. When 
the members of a family have all attained the full use of rea- 
son, they can free themselves from parental control, but not 
before. The Mexican family, let me say it, are far from 
having attained that point. They have not got the instruc- 
tion that is indispensable to form a federal body. They are 
too immature for governing themselves, and if a possibility 
of redemption exists for them, I only perceive it in concen- 
trating, but never in diverging the action of powder : a theory, 
which, in hard cases and dangerous circumstance, was fol- 
lowed by all nations, and by the " instructors of the world" 
themselves. 

Corruption is the cause by which the public treasury is 
always empty; public officers are badly paid, the army and 
navy are neglected, and the government itself is obliged to 
fall into the hands of famished harpies ; who, the more they 
have, the more eager they are to devour, and with whom 
they contract shameful loans. Such charitable lenders (call- 
ed by the Mexicans agististi) are the ruin of the country. 
They lend money to the government on the best securities, 
just on the same conditions as the most greedy usurer would 
enter into such a transaction with young men not yet of age. 
Their finances are in so great disorder, that the government 
is compelled to submit to the humiliating pacts, and even 
kiss the hand that strikes it. Is it not strange that the very 
country that disseminates the precious metals over the whole 
world, should be reduced to such extremities 1 That hap- 
pens, however, for the reason that their public treasury is 
a cow that every one will milk, and because all run on the 
ora pro me maxim. The Mexican financiers think of filling 
their own purses, not that of the state. Every one for him- 
self, they say, and God for us all. 

I read at Gen Filisolas' a letter narrating the particulars 
of a disgraceful contract entered into between the comman- 
der of Matamoras and a furnisher, who was to supply the 



82 A VOYAGE TO 

army with four hundred thousand rations, if I recollect it 
well, at forty -three and three-quarters cents each ; a rate 
which left to the contractor over one hundred per cent, profit. 
The commander of course must have had a good mouthful, 
and thus en avant ! 

Offices in Mexico are like shops, where people hasten to 
make as much money as they can. When an officer is sent 
out in commission, the object of honor and the prospect of 
glory are generally second to the hope of plunder. The 
accounts he produces, compared with the well-known " Gen. 
Washington's accounts of his expenses in the revolutionary 
war," would celebrate its framer on an opposite parallel. 

What adds much to the distressed condition of the Mexi- 
can treasury is smuggling; since it is practised as smoothly 
as the most regular trade in the world. We ought always 
to be cautious ere attacking a whole nation, I know ; how- 
ever, it is not less true that internal strife and corruption are 
the order of the day wherever the Spanish language is spo- 
ken : Spain has bequeathed these propensities to its dis- 
membered colonies, of which she is not much ahead herself. 

Look at the wretched state of that country; at the savage 
acts which characterize its endless war: at the desertion of 
its chiefs ! How many Arnolds has Spain had in the last 
twenty or thirty years % Let us go back to Mexico, and look 
at its custom-house re ovulations. 

The government of every province, very much to the an- 
noyance of the Mexican commerce, charges additional du- 
ties on the goods to be consumed within its district; so that, 
if a box of silk is sent from Vera Cruz to Mexico, unless de- 
clared to be in transitu, it must pay, besides the importation 
duty at the seaport, ten per cent, in Jalapa, in Puebla, and 
in the capital. The whole appears to me a defective sys- 
tem, and expensive too, as they are bound to keep number- 
less custom-house officers. 

Now Mexican custom-house officers and robbers of the 
public money might be considered almost synonymous. To 
bribe them is as profitable as it is a safe business. Merchants 
import a great deal in that manner; not to mention what they 
introduce by stratagem, or without the connivance of the 
officers. 

Smuggling is more or less carried on every where ; yet in 
the United States, England, France, Germany, Italy, and 
other countries it is altogether a business at the risk of those 
engaged in it ; it is a war of cunning waged by bold people 
against the whole brigades of the custom-house. It is not 
go, however, in Spain, or in the once Spanish colonies. 



MEXICO AND HAVANNA. 83 

There even a stranger can fearlessly take apart the officer 
who comes on duty on board, and bargain with him. I was 
repeatedly asked on the wharf of Vera Cruz, if I had any 
money to send on board the vessel in which I was to leave ; 
they charged but three-quarters per cent., whilst the exporta- 
tion duty is three or three and a half. 

Is it so difficult to catch an officer in flagranti delicto ? 
I am aware it would not be so elsewhere. First pay them 
well: do not allow them to say "how can I support myself 
and family with so much'?" then watch them closely; look if 
they gamble or squander money; search into their conduct; 
examine how they live ; scan their steps ; and it will prove 
very easy to discover the trick he plays on the public treasury. 
Seize the first who betray their duties, send them to the 
galleys, and be assured, things will soon turn out better. 

Punishment, like violent remedies, said Plato, ought ne- 
ver to be used but in cases of extreme necessity ; yet, as 
another sage said, remissness of severity may pass in a well- 
organized society, but it will never do when society is cor- 
rupted. 

As far as I could perceive, the Mexicans follow a wrong 
policy in having the same custom house officers on duty, at 
the same place, year after year, or all their life. They be- 
come, thus, intimate with every body; and have the means 
of committing peculations with the completest security from 
detection. If what a custom house officer, who had been re^ 
cently sent from Mexico to Tampico, told me, be true, that 
port, which receives much fewer vessels than Vera Cruz, 
gave in 1839 a larger product to the Republic. 

The Mexicans, but of late, understood that to place confi- 
dence (as it was formerly done in the United States also) in the 
assertions of the importer who exhibited original accounts, 
whereupon the duties were charged, was the way of making 
them rich and the State poor. They have now a tariff, 
which, for some articles is excessively high, and for others 
quite reasonable. 

Smuggling is a corrupting and immoral traffic, which ruins 
at once the revenue and the trade of a country. It ruins 
the revenue, because it dries up the most efficient resources 
of the State — the trade, for all have not the same facilities, 
or are not so situated as to be able to smuggle, or even 
dislike that illicit trade; the disparity which arises then, is 
detrimental to those who do not rob the treasury. 

Those merchants who are accustomed to cheat the reve- 
nue, were that source of profit to cease, would make a terri- 
ble noise, rush against the new measures and abuse the exe- 



84 A VOYAGE TO 

cutive. They would clamor against the injustice of doing 
what the law told them before it would do — never mind ; let 
them brawl. When at the end all will be placed on the 
same ground, they will cease grumbling, and commerce will 
be no longer an organized brigandage. 

Notwithstanding all the exaggerated reports about the 
national debt of Mexico, it does not exceed forty-five mil- 
lions of dollars. What is that for a country like Mexico] 
it is nothing: it would soon be paid, had they an able and 
honest minister of the finances. 

That the Federalists offer more security for the repres- 
sion of all such abuses in the administration of the country, 
I am unable to see ; on the contrary, as regards smuggling, 
they gave everywhere evidence, that the custom-house de- 
partment would not require many efforts on their part. 

I must pause now, on a subject, whereupon to please 
some of their instigators, the Federalists lay a great stress 
— the adopting of free worship. They brag so much about 
it, and pretend to make people believe that it would be the 
corner-stone of the prosperity of Mexico ; but I, for my part, 
would never recommend the measure to the Mexicans. Let 
them have a dominant religion, and tolerate all others. — 
What they want is, the reform of their clergy; worthy mi- 
nisters will, afterwards preach that tolerance which is a sine 
qua non part of a true Christian. If the Mexicans wish to 
descend to the root of the evil, let them free the roads of 
robbers, and make new ones (in which work criminals of 
every description ought to be employed) — the tide of a use- 
ful emigration will then go to Mexico, and the country 
change appearance. Let the country be safe, the present 
prejudices erased, and the government be solid: fear not, 
then, that any Protestant may stay from there on religious 
considerations. Are there not hundreds of thousands of 
German, Swiss, English and American Protestants spread 
all through the Catholic countries of Europe? I never saw 
any of them leaving Geramny, France or Italy, on account 
or for fear of being molested. In the republic of Mexico 
itself, though so sharply and not unjustly accused of reli- 
gious intolerance, are there not many thousand Protestants, 
who are left undisturbed to profess their religion, and per- 
form their religious duties 1 

The only difference between the Catholic countries of 
Europe and the United States on this score is, that in most 
places there, protestants are not allowed to build temples. 
Laws oppose there, the public Profession of any creed ex- 
cept the dominant, but not the least violence whatever is 



MEXICO AND HAVANNA, S3 

offered to other believers. Every one thinks and does what 
he pleases; as to meeting, it is not a great obstacle, if the 
Protestants are compelled to unite under the roof of their 
houses, instead of preaching within the walls of a temple. 
This comports with the simplicity of which they boast so 
much. Some forbearance is, after all, the lot of all men. 
A Catholic, who according to his notions, is allowed to play 
and do many other things on Sunday, after having attended 
mass, would have the panes of his windows broken, or be 
otherwise insulted, were he to do in New-York, Philadel- 
phia, and almost any other city in the United States, what 
is consistent with his religion, but not with puritanism. 

I should dread for Mexico the effects of that natural rest- 
lessness and inconstancy of man's heart, which is always 
thirsting after novelty, and, as the United States have prac- 
tically proved, is never cured of its disgust to uniformity, 
even in religious matters. 

Considering the whole, Mexico, persecuted Mexico, de- 
serves much more pity than hatred. The great misfortune 
of the Mexicans is, that since they undertook to govern 
themselves, they have never had a man pointing out to the 
nation the path to virtue ; nor an able ruler heartily, sincerely 
devoted to his country. We need not go back to ancient 
times, to know how the destinies of many a nation have 
been fixed by a single man : modern events will suffice to 
instruct us — can any one presume what Russia, that country 
now full of vigor and prospects, would be, without a Peter 
the Great? what France, without the man who boldly arrest- 
ed the progress of its long and bloody revolution ? what the 
United States, without that model of all virtues, the true fa- 
ther of his country^ Washington ? Now what Mexico wants, 
is a man like any of them; but to the best of my knowledge, 
they have not a full combination in any of their public men, 
and it will prove impossible to bring out a good and able offi- 
cer after the expiration of this presidential term. 

They had Iturbide, who was not comprehended; and the 
premature and undeserved end of whom they vainly mourn 
now. He was, unquestionably, the greatest man they had 
after their independence, although not free from faults. 

The other would-be great man, is Santa Anna; a monster 
of fortune and iniquity. Not any such instance is found, I 
believe, in the history of whichsoever time or country, of an 
individual, who, deficient of any talent (except that of rob- 
bing), stunned and humbugged a whole nation; and did so 
much, at the same time, to prostrate his native land, as this 



86 A VOYAGE TO 

one. Santa Anna is now enjoying, though the report sayg 
he will not enjoy long, the fruit of his treachery and extor- 
tions at the manga de clabo, a farm which is at a distance of 
four leagues from Vera Cruz. 

How he fascinated the Mexicans, is almost inconceivable ; 
so much he bewitched them, that when they should drag 
him before a tribunal, to answer for his frauds, errors, or 
felony, they rivalled each other in preparing a noble recep- 
tion and feasts for him. The butcher of Alamo and Goliad, 
when shamefully surprised at St. Jacinto, cowardly surren- 
dered with his troops to a handful of Texians, awoke the 
sympathy of the whole nation. They mourned more the 
fate of the leader than the ignominy of the country. I shall 
be very glad to have some one to explain why the poor 
Mexicans were made to call him in earnest " the hero of 
St. Jacinto." 

The same thing happened after the affair of St. Ulua. 
He got there with the declaration of war against France, in 
the evening of the 4th December, 1838. He had been in- 
vested with the supreme command, and held a conference 
with Gen. Arista, hut for got Arista's division, which was en- 
camped at Santa Fe, a small place near Vera Cruz. As he 
had come with a mission quite unexpected by the French, 
he thought of catching by surprise the Prince of Joinville. 
He caused the gates of the place to be shut up; yet, he 
failed in his attempt. Two French officers had brought to 
admiral Baudin the news of Santa Anna's arrival, which 
created suspicion. 

Vera Cruz had a garrison of from seven to eight hundred 
men, a number more than sufficient to keep a good watch 
all around during the night; however, at day break of the 
5th, the French scaled, unmolested, the batteries and enter- 
ed the place, without any one being aware of their presence, 
until the sentinel at the door of Santa Anna's house gave the 
alarm. 

The Napoleon of Mexico, as he calls himself, had forgot- 
ten to distribute sentinels on the walls, to watch the move- 
ments of the enemy who was in front. He had himself 
hardly time to make, without coat and hat, for Matadero, a 
camp close by the city. He owed to his neglige his escape, 
as the French could not fancy that he was the General-in- 
chief. Arista was not so fortunate; they took him priso- 
ner. 

The garrison, left without a commander, opposed no re- 
sistance, with the exception of the soldiery lodged in the 



MEXICO AND HAVANNA. 87 

caserne, who bravely defended themselves and did not give 
it up. In the meantime, the French proceeded to spike the 
cannons and destroy the outworks of the city. When they 
had done they made for the boats. The information that 
the French were retiring, reached and stirred Santa Anna 
from his lair. He soon collected some troops, and marched 
to the mole or wharf, where only seventy or eighty of the 
enemy remained on shore ; the balance with a few wounded 
and dead having already got into the boats. Santa Anna 
directed the attack against the party which was about em- 
barking, as well as against the boats full of troops which 
were making for Ulua. He had been careful not to expose 
himself to the firing of the French, who immediately answer- 
ed the charge; he had sheltered himself behind a small 
house (the office of the captain of the port) which stands pa- 
rallel to the mole; but, again he forgot something — his left 
leg and thigh jutted out from the corner of the building and, 
shame ! the French, with a piece of ordnance which they 
had taken from Vera Cruz, availed themselves of the neg- 
lect, and unceremoniously swept away the part exposed. 

Court martial ought to have tried the cowardly ass ; how- 
ever, partly by the spell which he had about himself, and 
partly for his cunning in finding out some officers among his 
accomplices who were very glad to support his lies, he 
made up an artificial and pompous exhibition of facts, such 
as to make the credulous Mexicans believe that it was a new 
laurel added to the many (all probably of the same character) 
which he had gathered before. 

Amongst the charges which are brought against the Mexi- 
cans, not the last nor the least, is that of representing them 
as excessively proud and conceited; poor fellows ! there can- 
not be a more unfounded calumny. They see but too well 
their misfortunes and gradual downfall; however, as we 
often judge of the whole by a part, the false and bombastic 
accounts of Gen. Santa Anna on various circumstances have 
induced people to suppose that the Mexicans are what they 
are not. 

The same charge exists against the people of the United 
States, which is likewise misapplied. Foreigners frequently 
say " the Americans will not listen to any thing said against 
their country." The Americans have that aversion which 
is common to every nation — they dislike to hear their coun- 
try abused; but they will patiently listen to impartial and 
reasonable comments : for the rest, it is merely an act of in- 
dulgence, if people do not kick off those foreigners, who, 

J 2 



S8 A VOYAGE TO 

with a brazen face, trample upon the country which gives 
them hospitality. The least I should fear directed to me 
from the people amidst whom I were to live, in case of abus- 
ing them would be, — Sir, who detains you here % why do 
you not go home % 

I shall return to the Mexicans. I saw a pamphlet pub- 
lished by F. de P. Orta, an officer in the Mexican army, pre- 
sent at the affair of Vera Cruz, who undertook to offer a 
sketch of it, and show the " Mexican Napoleon" under true 
colors. The author so begins — " Why, whilst all America 
and Europe know the humiliation which fell upon our arms, 
shall the Mexicans alone be ignorant of the fact ] why shall 
we believe that we have performed prodigies ; that we have 
covered ourselves with glory, whilst so many foreigners 
who witnessed the occurrence vouch to the whole world 
the contrary 1 what shall we gain by deceiving the nation 
under the silly pretext, as some say, of not having the glory 
of the country eclipsed ¥'■ 

This and other works opened the eyes of the Mexicans ; 
they made them blush when thinking of the ridiculous trium- 
phal arch they had erected in honor of Santa Anna, when 
that Judas to his country returned from Vera Cruz ; for the 
rest, except in the neighbourhood of his birth place, where 
from a misunderstood local pride he still enjoys some consi- 
deration, all his countrymen know him at last. 

An eminent personage there wished to know if I had not 
spoken of Santa Anna with Gen. Jackson, whom I had the 
pleasure of visiting at his house, and with whom I spent 
a most agreeable day, when on my way to Mexico. I re- 
peated the old hero's words. He said he had had an inter- 
view of six hours with Gen. Santa Anna, in which Mr. For- 
syth, the present secretary of state, acted as interpreter. " It 
is -a pity," said the old general, " that that man has not a 
heart as good as his head ;" yet the ex-president mistook 
what he thought to be Santa Anna's best part. He has 
shrewd, malicious and mischievous dispositions; but not 
what phrenologists would call " a good head." 

Notwithstanding an introduction I had to Santa Anna, 
what I heard and read of the man disgusted me so much, 
that I gave up visiting him at his country residence. I felt 
satisfied that it was not worth the trouble to go and see one 
more of the many rascals who move about the world* 



MEXICO AND HAVANNA. 89 

CHAPTER VII. 

What form of government would better suit the Mexicans— American 
aristocracy — Austrian government in Italy — Louis Philippe and the 
British government— Botta and the Italians — The Lombardo- Vene- 
tian kingdom — The Germans or the French mastering Italy — Visit 
©f a foreign ambassador to the governor of one of the United States 
— Elections and institutions of this country — Elective franchise of 
aliens in the United States — Native American Society — The leaders 
of the late revolutions in Italy — Political character and other re- 
marks on the Italians — Italian refugees in France and England — 
The present system of Austria. 

I expressed my opinion upon the present form of the 
Mexican government, by calling it a mistaken one. I shall 
add now that if a change must take place, progressing to- 
wards democracy will never do : a well-intentioned monar- 
chical system would suit them much better than a republican 
one. I say so, because freedom can succeed, but never pre- 
cede, intelligence and public order. 

The Americans will call me a blasphemer or an apostate 
(as I have already taken the first step and shall ere long be- 
come an American citizen) preaching as I do, the expe- 
diency of a monarchical form of government; however, as we 
are wont to say, let every thing be in its place. 

This country is placed under peculiar circumstances, 
which, as long as they last, will ensure to its people the in- 
stitutions they have adopted. Import them to any country 
of Europe, and you would strike a fatal blow to its social 
equilibrium. 

Permit me to observe that Europeans know as little of 
America as Americans do of Europe : an axiom, which 
seems to imply the evidence of their standing on the same 
ground, although it is not so ; because Americans generally 
look with depreciating eyes upon Europe, and Europeans 
look, as if through a magnifying glass, at the United States; 
the difference, then, is against Europe; with, however, the 
exception of England, whose people look upon this country 
with as much scorn as devotedness and servility are evinced 
by the people of the United States towards all that is Eng- 
lish. The American aristocracy, especially, vie with each 
other in aping and counterfeiting every newly imported 
English practice, manner, or fashion. 

Much is said by some Americans about their countrymen 
who " uncover their heads to royalty or within the threshold 
of an aristocratic drawing-room;" yet many a republican has 
only to go there to learn that kings are no longer such terrific 

i 3 



90 A VOYAGE TO 

beings, commanding awe. They will perceive that barons, 
counts and princes, except shaking hands,* will be as pleased 
as polite at being visited by any honest man of the mercan- 
tile or other profession, while they will feel honored to en- 
tertain literary or scientific characters. 

For the little I know of the American aristocracy, the in- 
telligent part of it is just the same as the European; that is 
to say, according to circumstances and persons, either unpre- 
tending, pliable and courteous, or haughty, obstinate and 
repulsive. The poor are delighted when they say that " all 
are equal in this country ;" the rich will laugh in their 
sleeves — then echo. A real amusement is to see, at the eve 
of an election, a man, sometimes as proud as the ancient Or- 
sini and Colonna, with a cheerful countenance, running or 
riding to and fro, having on his lips a smile ready for every 
body, indiscriminately shaking hands with all persons they 
meet; talking and chatting with the merchant, the farmer, the 
mechanic, and the husbandman. He goes often so far as to 
give the last classes a party, the description of which would 
make a horse laugh. Let the election be over, and behold 
what a difference between the candidate and the officer. 
Then he resumes his countenance and habits. The poor, 
and even "his guests of one evening,'' may scream as much 
as they please about " equality," for he is deaf to such non- 
sense ; and when to keep up appearances, he is forced to 
deal with some heterogeneous being, I am confident some 
broken curses are let loose against the very shade of equality 
which places him in contact with them. 

Such is human weakness; nor do such things happen in 
the United States alone. Become familiar with the leaders 
of free principles in Europe; the same metamorphosis will 
be seen. The difference between a French or English re- 
presentative, and an English or French minister, is beyond 
description. When a representative, he will thunder from 
the rostrum against the oppressive system and wrong policy 
of the government ; he is for the rights of the people, who 
bless him ; but no sooner does he sit on the " velvet cushion,' ' 
than he becomes another man ; he approves and extols the 
same policy and system, which he > violently blamed before, 
and to his associates, his idol — the people — he turns his back. 
A curtain separates the parliamentary man from the man of 
the cabinet. 

They are every -day events in the countries of Europe, 
ruled on the representative principle ; and, had the govern- 

* Which are many times stretched in the United States, when 
fresh from having performed the nasty office of a handkerchief. 



MEXICO AND HAVANNA. 91 

ments as many portfolios* to dispose of, as there are mem- 
bers of the opposition, there would no longer be any mem- 
bers of the opposition at all. An office thrown into their 
throat would quiet all these Cerberuses. 

I shall refer now to that part of the American aristocracy 
which pretends to shine, simply because of their fortune, 
that often vanishes as fast as it was heaped : I here mean 
those who, without education, think that money is every 
thing. They are mostly insupportable. I have in the Uni- 
ted States a fair but irreconciliable enemy in a young lady, 
with whom I happened to talk about a public ball : — " How 

did you enjoy yourself, Miss V " How could I be 

amused amongst so many parvenus V To tell the whole 
truth, I think I never was a champion of gallantry ; but on 
that occasion I forgot myself so far as to reply, "If you ex- 
clude parvenus, your balls will not be very thickly attended.' ' 
I avow it was an insolence; yet how could any one bear 
hearing, under this republican sky, a similar remark from 
the offspring of an honest but uncultivated and ignorant 
man, rich at that time, but only a few years before a penni- 
less fellow, who packed up pork ] I wish here to be under- 
stood. T. do not intend to look, or make others look with 
contempt upon such people — no : on the contrary, I respect 
and esteem every man, who by dint of an honorable indus- 
try ascends to a high or respectable station in life. We are 
not very far distant from that time in which the most fatal 
of prejudices made people prefer a well-born, but stupid or 
vicious being to a man of merit or probity, who had com- 
mitted the fault of appearing on the stage of life just the 
same as Plato or Caesar. This prejudice, sacred by many 
ages of ignorance and egotism, was a lingering disease; 
which, down to the close of the last century, wasted society 
away, or kept it in a state of torpor. Then a well-born 
man could do every thing without talents or virtue, whereas 
all virtues and talents could not avail the plebeian. The 
first was generally predestined to perpetrate any rash act 
whatever, whose victims the other constantly were. 

A change, and a very salutary one, has taken place. All 
rational beings think now more of the talents and education 
of a person than of his birth or fortune ; yet we must not 
confound characters or things. A man disgusts, when ele- 
vated by mere chance, suddenly forgetful of his origin, he 

* When a minister is nominated in France, they say he has the 
portfolio of the interior, war, &c., according to the department to 
which he is appointed. There are then ministers without portfolio, 
who have nevertheless a vote in the council of state. 



92 



A VOYAGE TO 



fancies that the blood of demi-gods runs in his veins; and 
contemns those who were but a short time before, on equal 
terms with him. He disgusts them more and more, when 
being quite unlearned, and leaning entirely on his money, 
he mimics rich, and at the same time educated men, or look 
with disdain at people who possess what all his fortune can- 
not purchase, what can never be lost, but are not rich. 

There are some, who loudly accuse American travellers 
for fear that they may import aristocracy. I should, how- 
ever, advise those who are sincerely jealous of their repub- 
lican institutions, to direct their attention and quell the aris- 
tocratic tendency, that does not come from the opposite 
shores of the Atlantic, but is indigenous to the United 
States. 

An English tourist is yet on board his vessel, when the 
whole press cheers his arrival. All his movements are 
eagerly watched. They will run hundreds of miles to take 
a glance of him. He is the " lion" as they will say, of 
Washington, New- York, or other places. When an Ameri- 
can traveller is admitted to the presence of a king or queen, 
the " great event" will be noticed by all papers, in the same 
way that they will echo from Maine to Louisiana," through 
the whole union, that Mr. Stevenson, the American minister 
to the court of St. James, had the distinguished honor of 
dining with the fair queen, and will measure the feet and 
inches which separated his nose from hers. Every one can 
remember, when Mr. Van Buren's sons, and Mr. Daniel 
Webster were in England; how their very steps were re- 
ported; how an attention, a word dropped from the lips of 
the Duke of Wellington, Lord Brougham, Melbourne or 
others, resounded at a distance of from three to five thousand 
miles. The dress, or the ornamenting of the hair of queen 
Victoria will set the fashion to the American ladies; her 
least motion, gesture, act or word, will be mentioned : girls 
are christened with the name of the happy queen. I saw 
religiously preserved in an American family an artificial 
flower, that had been at the top of a cake presented by the 
British queen to one of her ministers on the occasion of her 
marriage : the fortunate flower, after having braved the dan- 
gers of a sea voyage as well as of a long inland journey, is 
shown and admired as a great curiosity. What would 
Washington, Franklin, or any other of the venerable men 
who flourished in the early period of this government, and 
with whom the best times of Sparta and Rome seemed to 
revive — what would they say, should they raise their heads, 
and returning for a moment from the night of eternity, see 



MEXICO AND HAVANNA. 93 

all such things — and others too? nor must the Americans 
make their countrymen who go to Europe answerable for 
the anti-republican demonstrations to which I have* alluded; 
because, well could Messrs. Stevenson, Van Buren, Web- 
ster and others share so many distinctions, without there 
being any necessity for the American press, to publish by 
sound of trumpet events of the kind. 

I had a long talk on this subject with one of the greatest 
men who have ever appeared on the public stage in this 
country, and who, notwithstanding the venomous imputa- 
tions of a delirious party, is unquestionably, and by far, the 
most eminent character of the present time; I mean Gen. 
Jackson. The old fashioned republican sighed, in compar- 
ing the present state of things with bygone times ; and I saw 
his wrinkled, austere countenance flushing, when he made 
allusion to the Anglo-mania which is gaining ground every 
day amongst the Americans, or at least the higher classes. 

Now, I do not wish to have any person believe, that I 
speak of Gren. Jackson as the head of his party. I am not 
a politician, and shall, a little farther on, evince that I deny 
any right to foreigners of mingling with the politics of the 
country from whence they receive hospitality. 

I consider the political principles of the ex-president as 
being sincere; I have not the least doubt but that he is a well- 
intentioned and true patriot, while I would not indeed ven- 
ture to say so much of either of the two agitating factions. 

After all, the strong proneness of the Americans to aris- 
tocracy may be nothing else but the result of refinement, and 
all efforts to conquer it may prove useless. 

I was in New- York in the month of July, 1838, when a 
numerous collection of Italian and Flemish paintings was 
exhibited at the academy of fine arts : close by the door of 
the hall which contained the same paintings, in a small and 
dark room, there was a portrait of queen Victoria; (a real 
poor thing, in spite of what the American papers said and 
do say to "puff" it) well, the republicans flocked by crowds 
into the queen's room, whilst none visited the other exhibi- 
tion. 

Amidst the erroneous impressions of the Americans in 
reference to Europe, and vice versa, there is the commisera- 
tion felt by the former in regard to the political condition of 
the old continent; and on the opposite side, the enchantment 
of the Europeans in looking, on that score, at this country. 
However, as far as experience has assisted me, I only see 
much less despotism on one side and much less liberty on. 



94 



A VOYAGE TO 



the other, (provided licentiousness be not mistaken for 
liberty) than it is generally thought. 

I shall, confine my observations upon Europe to a single 
country, my native land, which is unanimously pitied as 
groaning under the inflexible iron hand of tyranny. 

I belong to that part of Italy, which is directly under the 
claws of the double-headed eagle, or to that section of the 
country which, in a political point of view, is considered to 
be in the most wretched and oppressed state. 

Austria is called the leader of European despotism. By 
"the prisons of Silvio Pellico," or by the way in which state- 
prisoners are treated, people judge of the character of that 
government. One of Pellico's sufferers made the picture 
still gloomier with his annotations; which however, accord- 
ing to Count Confalonieri (he told me so on board the brig 
Hippolitus, in the port of Trieste), are either incorrect or 
exaggerated. 

That Confalonieri, Pellico, and their associates were inhu- 
manly treated, none can deny. In the pure expansions of 
his innocent soul, Pellico relating, full of Christian resigna- 
tion, the hard trial of his long captivity, draws tears. What 
relates to crimes d'etat is incontrovertibly a dreadful con- 
cern in the Austro-Italian provinces. No possible means is 
neglected to drag the guilty from their hiding place ; and they 
remind us of past ages, when oppressors made a study of 
how they could more torment their victims. The cruelty of 
the punishment I blame; but, let us look, if punishing such 
attempts is so unjust, so monstrous as it is generally pro- 
nounced. 

A plotter against his government, or sovereign must know, 
before taking any such step, the chances connected with it. 
A chief must be aware beforehand that he may as well 
mount on a gibbet as on a throne. In the very act of plan- 
ning the scheme, let the conspirator weigh the probable con- 
sequences either for, or against himself; then, according to 
his moral strength, let him go ahead or retire. To complain 
afterwards, if he fails, of his enemies, to call them tyrants, is 
but weakness. People generally sympathize with political 
martyrs, for there is generally nothing criminal about them, 
except their failure. A crime of to-day is a virtue to-mor- 
row; and the very man who accuses his opponents, would 
not, in most instances, have treated them otherwise, had his 
attempts been crowned with success. j 

Who will call the "citizen-king" a tyrant] I think — none; 
however, did he not cause Fieschi, Pepin, Alibaud, and their 
confederates, to be beheaded or thrown into a dungeon? 



MEXICO AND HAV'ANNA. 95 

Some will remark, that they were intended regicides, and 
that, Fieschi, in carrying his scheme into execution, sacrifi- 
ced many lives — true ; yet, let the phantom of republican- 
ism appear in France, and Fieschi will be no longer an as- 
sassin; they will call him, if not a hero, a victim of the good 
cause. In other less serious instances, Louis Philippe was 
generous, and deserves credit for it, even though he may 
have been prompted by conciliatory reflections. 

What did other governments do in similar cases ? I shall 
refer to the most excellent model of free institutions in Europe 
— the English government. Did not the British, during the 
late Canadian insurrection, quarter some of the rebels'? did 
not Col. Prince, like Santa Anna, coolly slay harmless priso- 
ners some hours after their surrender] some noise was made 
in parliament, and all ended there. 

Now, whilst the government which pretends to take in 
tow all Europe sanctioned such proceedings, the Austrians, 
not only never quartered, but never caused a single execu- 
tion whatever of its convicted Italian conspirators. Some will 
remark that not a single plot there, was brought to maturity; 
and that a distinction must be acknowledged between the 
Canadians and the French, who fought against their govern- 
ments, and the Italians who seldom went so far. There are, 
however, instances, in which mere projectors, seized in the 
effort of consummating their plots, were put to death by the 
kings of France, Prussia, Sardinia, Naples, and other coun- 
tries of Europe. 

If some of my countrymen ever see this part of my work, 
they will fulminate anathemas against me. Some will say, 
that I must have my views for courting Austria; as by saying 
what I do say, they will swear I have the intention to flatter 
her. Let me in the first place disclaim any comparison, as 
it would be madness in me to pretend to any such parallel 
between myself and the eminent historian too well known 
in this country — Botta; that upright, impartial, and virtuous 
man, who, following the tracks of Macchianello, Muratori, 
Dennina, Guicciardini, Davila, and many others, honoured 
the land, wherefrom, to repeat the words of the English 
author, " History, as well as every thing which is noble and 
useful, originally came. Botta, the same who exhibited the 
unprecedented example of writing an original history of a 
country which he never saw, and rendered a great service to 
the United States, with his work on the revolutionary war 
* of this country, which is acknowledged as the best of all — the 
same, who, with the stern rigidity of olden times, wrote on 
his own country, in continuation of Gruicciardini's work, that 



96 A VOYAGE TO 

is to say from 1522 to 1797, and was afterwards prevailed 
upon by his countrymen to write about his own time- — the 
very man, who faithful to the duty of a historian, reviewed 
impartially the events which took place in Italy from 1797 
to 1814, was disgraced by his countrymen. 

The " Prince of modern historians," as he is called in the 
literary world; the man, who, regardless of any consideration, 
cared only for transmitting the truth unveiled to posterity; 
the patriot, who, for his free opinions, was constrained to 
live on very scanty means, far from his father-land — commit- 
ted the dreadful crime of telling the Italians the whole truth, 
and was denounced as a slanderer. The unfortunate exile 
was attacked, abused, and even suspected of being in the 
pay of the Austrians. So much do we hate truth, when it 
does not smooth our self love. 

Botta professed free principles, without being a visionary. 
He laughed at the dreams of those who would bring society, 
as it is, back to the times of the Agrarian law. He recom- 
mended the adoption of such institutions as would suit the 
present civilization.. " Aristocracy," said he " is to be consi- 
dered as the principle conservative of a free State, and the 
source of all that is elevated and disinterested in public life : 
where laws oppose aristocracy by birth, a bad substitution 
takes place, viz. the aristocracy of wealth, greatly worse 
than the other, for, it claims the same privileges, without 
having its virtues and merits." 

Botta said, that the Gallo-mania, or predilection which at 
that time (not now) the Italians nourished for the French, 
was as wrong as the mortal hatred sworn by them to the 
Austrians. He thought that German slowness is, by far to 
be preferred to French quickness. He told them, not to 
rely upon any foreign assistance, as they would invariably 
be led, either to unsuccessful and lamentable attempts, or a 
change of masters. He inveighed against their never-ceas- 
ing sectional divisions and internal dissentions. Had his 
advices been appreciated, the Italians would not have to 
mourn now, the disasters of 1831, which were chiefly pro- 
moted by the delusory promises and selfish views of the 
French. 

Botta knew that he was working to raise a host of enemies 
against himself; nor was he under unfounded apprehen- 
sions. Even the very last moments of his old age were 
embittered by the attacks of a blind and raging party spirit. 

Disclaiming again any comparison which is too far above 
me, I aver there is no tyranny exercised in the Italian pro- 
vinces ruled by Austria; and, to prevent misconstruction, I 



MEXICO AND HAVANNA. 97 

declare that I not only have nothing to do now, but I shall 
never have hereafter any thing to do with the Austrian go- 
vernment; for, if I ever go back to my native country, I 
shall go as an American citizen. 

To an American who should visit the Austro-Italian pro- 
vinces, or the Lombardo-Venitian kingdom, I would say — 
provided you do not conspire against the government, you 
will be as free there as here — (except of course the compli- 
ance with certain formalities that are so much spoken of, 
and would however, be in existence under this very sky, 
had the United States a population like the European, in- 
stead of fifteen or sixteen millions of inhabitants). Do not 
plot, and then, do just what you please; none will interfere 
with you. If you have any claim against the crown, em- 
ploy a lawyer; he will sue the vice-king, and even the em- 
peror. If any public officer insults you, go to a competent 
authority: he will be punished. I shall not omit to report 
the remark of an able lawyer, one of the nine Italian plot- 
ters, whose prisons were opened by the Austrian govern- 
ment, to be transported to New-York. # None, of course 
can suspect him of partiality for his persecutors ; yet, I 
heard him saying, that the Americans are much behind the 
Austrians as regards the routine and administration of jus- 
tice. As for the political opinions, they are totally free as 
the religious. Who should advance that the Austrians ha- 
rass men simply on account of their opinions, would speak 
false. Think as you please and speak as you choose; provi- 
ded it be not in public, so as to create excitement; say open- 
ly, I dislike monarchy, I do not like the government, I hate 
the Austrians — none will trouble you for that. When you 
hear that the Austrians place sentinels over the thoughts or 
words of the Italians, you hear stories. There is one line, 
behind which you have nothing to fear; go beyond that, and 
then, from that very moment, as soon as you join a sect or 
conspiracy, or in any other way become an actual politician, 
fear every thing. 

The country where I first inhaled my breath will, to my 
very last moment have a large share of my affections and 
best wishes. I have always desired, and still strongly de- 
sire, though without hope, to see Italy united and indepen- 
dent. 

When at home, being some years younger and having less 
experience, I became infected with the predominant aver- 
sion to the Austrians ; and, as I never was much reserved, I 
did not conceal at all my opinions and feelings. At the last 
* Count Confalonieri and Mr. Tinelli were of the number. 



98 A VOYAGE TO 

French revolution I fancied seeing the tri-colored flag wa- 
ving throughout all Europe, as a signal of regeneration to 
the people and of terror to the sovereigns : my heart exulted 
at hearing the revolt of central Italy* I received, underhand, 
the papers from the provinces which had adopted free insti- 
tutions, where some communications of mine were often in- 
serted. Poland had no warmer friend than myself. A Pole 
was to me a being descended from heaven. I ran once a 
great danger, to enable one of them to make his escape. 
Colonel K -, was to be sent by the Austrian govern- 
ment to the United States, whilst he wished to join Gen. 
Dembisky, a gallant Pole commander who served at that 
time the Pacha of Egypt. I succeeded in putting him on 
board a Swedish ship sailing for Alexandria; though, hav- 
ing, immediately after, known better my man, I had no lon- 
ger occasion to feel proud of my coup-de-main. I so ma- 
naged, that I was the only person, who, not being related to 
them, could hold intercourse with some of the state prisoners 
who were to be transported to the United States. I was an 
ardent enthusiast for the cause of freedom, and as it so hap- 
pened that I lived, for the last ten years ere coming to this 
country, in perhaps the only Italian place which, on account 
of mighty interests, befriends the Austrians, were it not for 
fear of assuming too much importance, I should say, that 
not only the eyes of the authorities but of the people were 
fixed upon me. I was one of the few acknowledged liberali r 

or men of free principles, who lived in ; but I never 

thought of conspiring or actually aiding the cause, and was 
in no way ever molested. I hope I shall be excused if I go 
on talking of myself. I know very well how a writer must 
avoid introducing himself as the hero of a piece. This, I 
protest, is not my intention; I only thought that I could 
never better show how such things go on there than by faith- 
fully relating what I saw myself on this head. At all events 
I expect that I am as good a witness as any body else. 

I recollect a conversation I had once with a high officer 
of the Austrian government. Half in jest, half in earnest, he 
noticed my political sympathies, and said he knew very well 
I was a liberate ; whereupon, half in jest, half in earnest 
myself, I made my political profession, and granted I was a 
lover of liberty, as far as I wished to see Italy forming an in- 
dependent nation; but I knew it was a dream to expect such 
a change, and I did not desire any other having the usual 
results. 

In effect, if we, formerly the masters of the world — by that 
rotation of events which raises and prostrates nations just 



MEXICO AND HAVANNA. 99 

the same as individuals — are doomed to have masters, I 
cannot see the advantage of changing them. The lot would 
most probably fall upon the French, and rather than have 
such substitutes, let us go on with the Austrians. They are 
not " eagles/' but they have about them that goodness which, 
as a national characteristic, is quite peculiar to the German 
family. The Italians must avow that the Austrians never 
occupied Italy under specious and false appearances, as the 
French did. The Austrians never presented chains to con- 
quered Italy amidst songs of liberty. They never indulge 
in violence ; they do not make the Italians uneasy on account 
of their wives, sisters, or daughters. Their civil as well as 
military officers are noted for their mildness and respectful- 
ness. Would that the Italians were so; but, painful as it 
may be, it is not less true that the most restless, insolent 
and contemptible public officers in the Austro-Italian pro- 
vinces are the Italian officers; who, to ingratiate themselves 
with their masters and show their zeal, make themselves 
odious to their countrymen. 

Let us now do justise to the Austrians on another ground. 
They never stripped Italy of the monuments of its ancient 
grandeur to enrich their museums and galleries as the 
French did, under the renegado Italian (Btw not ifonaparte). 

Whilst such acts of refined Vandalism were never practised 
by the Austrians, we must acknowledge also that they rule 
over the country without sneering at its people. They have not 
the chez-nous always on their lips, as if to depreciate every 
thing which is Italian. They do not find Italy such a bad 
country, nor the Italians such a wretched race as the French 
delight in calling the one and the other. They in short do 
not rush against the Italians with biting philippics or sa- 
tires, as the modern Galli always did, and do even now 
through their Hugos and other writers. 

I like the French, but chez-eux. 

To resume the inconveniences and advantages attached to 
the Austrian government, one will see there, as through the 
whole continent of Europe the system of a forced military 
enrolment. He will not cast his eyes over any paper of an 
avowed tendency to the so called " doctrines of the age." 
He will not witness there such things as an "election of the 
people," (though the Americans often call by this appella- 
tion the elections of corruption, cabal, treachery, or violence,) 
but there he will never see public order disturbed ; his pro- 
perty and life will be perfectly safe ; he will not see the re- 
putation of any man sold to the caprice, or interests of the 
press; he will have incorruptible magistrates; he will for- 

k2 



100 A VOYAGE TO 






get Judge Lynch; he will lose sight of any difference be- 
tween poor and rich before justice ; he will not hear of safe- 
guards delivered to the culprit who can give bail. 

The Austrians are remarkable for their tact in the choice 
of high officers. They rather sacrifice capacity to honesty y 
and have thus correct men filling the most important places. 
I shall give an instance of their good management on this 
score. There is no station in the United States which is 
half so difficult to fill with public satisfaction as the police- 
directorship in Lombardy. The head of that department 
has the mission to protect the interests of his constituents, 
who are openly and cordially detested; yet, since 1814, or 
the last occupation of Lombardy by the Austrians, there 
were four directors of police, who, including Mr. Torresani, 
the gentleman at present filling the office, were, not only 
esteemed but loved by the sworn anti- Austrian population 
of Milan. 

The deportment of the subaltern officers or young clerks 
is quite the contrary, and this not only in Austria or in the 
Austro-Italian provinces, but almost everywhere else in 
Europe. They think of acquiring by harsh and rough man- 
ners that importance which they have not in themselves ; so 
that I should always advise foreigners to avoid as much as 
they can any contact with such excrescences of power. A 
high officer anywhere in Austria will never fail to listen 
with composure to any complainer, and set his affair right 
on the spot if he can, or dismiss him with politeness if it is 
not in his power to comply with his request. 

In Austria, the case which occurred the 6th of July, 1839, 

in would never be seen. I refer here to a visit paid 

by one of the foreign ministers, residing in Washington to 

the highest officer of the State of , who was an habitual 

drunkard, and received the foreign diplomatist, staggering. 
What an impression the sight of a governor almost sink- 
ing under a full dose of whiskey must have made 1 What 
will be said of such elections of the people 1 

I called, and shall again call this country an infant giant, 
as far as regards its athletic muscularity, or its astonishing 
strength and progress in the way of prosperity. Nothing is 
more admirable than their institutions, which were intended 
for a virtuous people, while from the time they were framed, 
a sad alteration has taken place. The difference between 
the spirit of the American institutions, and the way in which 
they are carried on, is unutterable ; and although fortune 
has not changed with manners, every thing is to be dreaded 
where men rule laws, not laws men. 



MEXICO AND HAVANNA. 101 

A true republic is that where offices look for officers, and 
so was this commonwealth in its earliest days. I need not 
say how it is now ; as I shall not say how their lawgivers 
act even in the avenue of the legislative hall. To those who 
not only would compare the United States, as they are, with 
Rome, but pretend to have surpassed it, I shall remember 
that Rome was about as old as this country, when Papirius 
and his colleagues struck the soldiers of Brennus with such 
awe, that they were about worshipping the grave senators 
of Querinus ! Do not look at all events for a Pedaretus in 
the United States. 

That there must be some muddy bottom in the stream of 
things in this country, is proved by the fact, that nothing is 
more calculated to appease the effervescence of free-minded 
people from abroad, than looking at liberty in its full might 
and splendor as it is here. A long residence in the United 
States would convert all those who dream of a republic in 
France, Germany, and every where else. I am sure I was 
radically cured of that disease; and I saw wonders perform- 
ed even in cases that would have been judged, by the most 
experienced eye, unconquerable ; nay, I do not know a sin- 
gle man of a certain standing in society (except people who 
come young to this country) who did not make a solemn 
recantation of their former views in politics. I am intimate 
with an exile who had been one of the strongest democrats 
of the age. Wishing to return home, he was told that he 
ought to write to his king, and make the usual apology. He 
sent, in effect, a letter to the king of -, through his repre- 
sentative in the United States; and he closed it thus — "If 
I should dare give your majesty advice, I would say: send 
your disaffected here, and expect every thing from the free 
air of this country." 

By far the greatest advocates of democracy are the idiots 
who land here en masse, and rave when they ruminate on 
their participation in the " sovereignty of the people." Such 
fellows would defy, when at the polls, all the crowned heads 
at once ; they act like lambs, or they are led by some other 
fool a shade above them, who plays the shepherd ; infatuat- 
ed by pleasant nonsense, and ignorant of every thing, or 
under the warm inspiration of a horn or two, they cast their 
vote, and elect all officers, even the president. Strange as 
it may seem, very few foreigners of resjDectability go to the 
polls. 

When the country was on its first rising, it was well un- 
derstood to allure immigration by every means; but now the 
same considerations existing no longer, I agree with those 

k 3 



102 A VOYAGE TO 

who wish to have the naturalization-law repealed. Accord- 
ing to my impressions, all civil rights should be granted to a 
foreigner after a short residence in the United States ; but 
that of voting, never, or not until a permanent stay of at 
least ten or fifteen years \ nor have the Americans, after all, 
to fear that this change in the constitution of the United 
States may check the tide of immigration, because what 
emigrants coming to these regions chiefly look for is bread ! 

Some associations were formed (called " Native American 
Society"), with the object of recommending to Congress the 
repeal of the law referring to aliens ; it was, however, an 
immature, inconsiderate and impolitic step the Whigs took, 
since they gave the alarm to foreigners, the mass of whom 
instinctively bends towards the party which has the advan- 
tage of styling itself " Democratic. " They ought to wait 
until they could rely upon being listened to by Congress : 
the result of the next great contest will very likely be en- 
dangered by this very step. 

Let us go back to Italy, or make some allusions to the re- 
volutionary movement of 1821 and 1831. 

I know most of the leaders, as we say, "body and soul."' 
They professed, of course, the usual principles which sound 
so grateful to the ear of the Italians. To drive away the 
Austrians was their first aim, and then to make of all Italy 
a single state. As regards hunting the Austrians, or defend- 
ing themselves in case of an attack, they had neither arms, 
nor a centre of action. As to the so long wished-for reunion 
of that rich and, politically speaking, unfortunate country, it 
was but a dream, for the different elements whereof it is 
composed, alas ! cannot cohere. An inveterate and shock- 
ing rivalry between province and province opposes an almost 
insurmountable obstacle to any durable coalition. The 
Piedmontese cannot bear the Lombard, the Sicilian hates 
the Neapolitan, the Romans do not mingle with the Tus- 
can; in short, they are all strangers, when they go beyond 
the boundaries of their own province or district. The dif- 
ferent governments they had was always careful in keeping 
up the old Italian enmities, since to this policy they owe 
their existence. Who can now suppose that national spirit 
or pride may be amongst the virtues of the " old Romans?" 
I would most certainly not attempt to defend them on this 
score. The policy to divide them is not a dark, impenetra- 
ble mystery, not a subtle conception of a Machiavello, or a 
Talleyrand — it is as clear as the evening-star with a serene 
sky, and it was pointed to them in all times. Why did, or 
do they not defeat it 1 What prevents it ? — want of public 



MEXICO AND HAVANNA. 103 

spirit. Sallustius said — strength, genius, virtue, renown 
circulate like money, and pass from one people to another. 
Genius and renown have never, nor will perhaps ever desert 
the " classical land," whilst strength and virtue are but remi- 
niscences of the past. Similar in that to the Spaniards, they 
console themselves, with saying that " all other nations are 
jealous of them, that they fear too much seeing them ranking 
with the other European powers, and therefore keep the 
torch of discord burning amidst them." Fools ! their own 
want of virtue and patriotism is charged to the account of an 
imaginary influence. 

Nothing is more common than to hear the Italians accus- 
ing their governments of their own faults. Some project is 
brought forth ; however, as none will ever concede or give 
up a point unless their private interest be connected with 
the interest or dignity of the country, such projects often 
fail; in which cases they abuse the government. A practi- 
cal instance whereof is adduced by the projected rail-road 
between Milan and Venice. The subscription opened in 
the hottest moment of the contrivance, (it amounted to four 
millions of dollars,) and was filled in a trice. Application 
was made in the beginning of 1836 to the general govern- 
ment, for the charter of the company; which was granted ; 
however they soon fell entangled into the labyrinth of pri- 
vate interests, and four years was spent in idle talking : if 
the late accounts I have received are correct, the work is 
considered almost impracticable, owing to the many highways, 
national, provincial and municipal roads, rivers, canals and 
streams intersecting the country. " It is impossible," says 
my friend, " to reconcile so many different interests." They 
will, however, sing the usual song : — " What can we do un- 
der such a government]" 

The Americans are generally called " money-makers," 
which appellative makes some foreigners believe they are 
avaricious. The American is generally so gnawed by the 
anxiety of money-making, that he lives an unhappy life, and 
often shortens it ; however, he is far from looking himself in 
his coffers. The American is generous, and always pro- 
vides for the comforts of his family. An artisan will very 
often be much more liberal than many of my old wealthy 
countrymen, whose only generosity will, in many instances, 
consist in an outward show ; not to mention that a man 
once in his downfall there, will struggle in vain, be he the 
best man in the world, for a rise. 

The same narrowness is the order of the day in politics. 
I saw Count , the head of an extensive plot, and an 



104 A VOYAGE TO 

exile at that time, shivering with cold rather than buy a 
cloak. He then avoided his political brethren for fear that 
some of them, who were in bad circumstances, should ask 
him for money. Should I tell the particulars of an occur- 
rence in which the Marquis was concerned, and where- 
of I could call myself the principal or only witness, since 
the whole passed under my eyes, he would not thank me 
for it; — here is a brief sketch of the whole transaction. 

While he was in the dungeons of , two guards were 

discharged, under strong suspicion of favouring his escape. 
One of them, a father of a large family, was reduced to the 
most distressed condition; he begged in the streets. When 

the Marquis saw the sun again, which had been shut 

out from him, it shone on a property of two millions of dol- 
lars (which there is equal to at least five millions in the 
United States). The destitute fellow, knowing that I cor- 
responded with the pardoned prisoner, applied to me ; I 
willingly interposed my good offices; and was promised at 
last — fifty dollars ! 

Men who, after having been buried alive fifteen years, and 
come out misers, ought never to be called patriots, since 
they defile the essence of their cause. 

There was in Paris and in Brussels some Italian counts 
and marquises, all emigres, at whose school the most absolute 
sovereigns of Europe could well send their children to learn 
perfect aristocracy ; they would nowhere else have them so 
completely educated. Indeed, I laughed sincerely in look- 
ing at those people, who made Austria, one of the most pow- 
erful countries in the world, tremble. Well might, for the 
rest, all such mistaken characters be satisfied on the whole, 
for they acquired a sort of celebrity, which they never would 
have otherwise grasped. 

I should, however, do injustice to my country, were I not 
to say that there are in the files of the Italian patriots some 
beautiful characters, who not only command esteem, but ve- 
neration. I remember them with the greatest delight, inas- 
much as they in some measure vindicate Italy, or erase the 
stains reflected upon her by the mass of the Italian political 
refugees who wander through Europe. 

There is nothing so disgraceful to my native country, as 
the bands of liber all, who, placed themselves at the charge 
of the English, French, and Belgians. The way in which 
they answered a truly noble and generous effort of an asso- 
ciation of English gentlemen, who, in the autumn of 1837, 
made up a fund of ten thousand pounds, and succored them, 
is so humiliating for any one having a truly Italian heart, 



MEXICO AND HAVANNA 105 

that my pen would drop should I attempt to tell the particu- 
lars of that detestable transaction. 

A very eloquent characteristic of the last political commo- 
tion of Italy is, that the provinces which have standing ar- 
mies of their own did not move at all. I should call the 
eclumfforee of 1831 a gaseous expansion of juvenile minds, 
excited or provoked by the treacherous principle of non-in- 
tervention, which Gen. Sebastiani, then minister of the fo- 
reign department, proclaimed, to serve the selfish and faith- 
less policy of the French government. 

The now emperor of Austria set the example of a system 
of conciliation, which the other sovereigns of Italv have also 
adopted. Notwithstanding thai, the Italians will try, and 
fail again. Mark me ! Italy can do nothing, except by pla- 
cing herself in the rear of a general uproar and confusion ; 
and even then the Italians ought to be very attentive, lest 
their beautiful and so much coveted peninsula should fall 
anew a prey to some other rapacious vulture. 

Some will say the picture I have drawn of the political 
susceptibility of my native country is sad; but, would to 
heaven that my arguments were wrong or mistaken. 



CHAPTER VIII. 

Present resources of Mexico — Mex'co versus Texas — What Texas is 
— Journey fro n the City of Mexico to Vera Cruz — Puebla. — Gen. 
Urrea in the Castle of Perote — Jalapa — Vera Cruz — St. Juan de 
Ulua, and former opinion in regard to its strength — Gen. Rincon 
and the French storming — Conduct of the Mexican soldiery — Opi- 
nion of Col. Soto about Ulua — The force of prejudice — The Ken- 
tuckians — Wearing arms and its consequences — Erroneous notions 
on murders and murderers which prevail in some of the United States. 

Let us return again to Mexico. I would dissuade any 
one from going there with the project of making a fortune ; 
at least, now. Its resources are so much dried up that a 
man in any capacity can do much better in the United 
States. 

The beginning of any profession or trade in Mexico is 
accompanied with numberless obstacles. The facility of 
" making a start," which in common times is so remarkable 
in this country, is totally unknown there. A man of moral 
qualifications, will, under any circumstances, be assisted 



106 A VOYAGE TO 

here; nor can the Americans be too much praised for their 
generous dispositions. A person wanting any thing in Mex- 
ico, will be told to call manana or to-morrow; and either 
their clocks stop, or their days are made up with countless 
hours. The Mexicans do not know that " procrastination is 
the thief of time." Their inborn indolence shows itself on 
all occasions. The Right Rev. Bishop of New-Orleans 
wished to have the certificate of the death of an Armenian 
priest who was " gathered to his fathers" in the city of Mex- 
ico. I made application to the " head-quarters" there, but 
could not obtain it, and left that city with the agreement 
that it should be sent to me in Vera Cruz, where again I 
was disappointed. 

Some of my readers will not perhaps have me to close 
my observations upon Mexico, without saying something in 
reference to Texas and to the probable intercourse between 
those two countries. 

I am aware of the interest which Americans profess for 
the prosperity of Texas. I know it is like " to hit the nail 
on the head" in making any allusion to that new country; 
yet I shall not hesitate speaking my opinion about it. 

Texas being an American creation, there was a sort of 
frenzy prevalent among the people of the United States for 
any thing having reference to that new-born republic, which 
has, however, greatly subsided. It had been extolled to the 
sky; there was no region in the world so beautiful and fer- 
tile ; no climate on earth was better than that of Texas. It 
was christened the " Italy of North America." In the midst 
of such pompous descriptions, some arose and impugned 
their veracity; but there was no resisting the current of 
public opinion ; such writers were silenced, or their accounts 
died away unnoticed. 

I have not been in Texas; but I have had many opportu- 
nities to converse about it with foreigners of respectability, 
including some calm Americans. 

Texas has been mistaken. It is the land of flowers, not 
of fruits; it is beautiful, not productive; even lately an Ame- 
rican, from Elizabethtown, Kentucky, confirmed my impres- 
sions, that its wide territory is almost good for nothing. He 
owns land there, and went to Texas many times. 

The same inconvenience, peculiar to Mexico, is common 
to Texas — that of being poorly watered; whilst there re- 
mains to Mexico the advantage of having some sections of 
its territory which cannot be surpassed by any in fertility. 
Potable or drinking water is still scarcer, and worse in Texas 
than Mexico, 



MEXICO AND HAVANNA. 107 

The farms bordering the rivers are the best in Texas ; 
but the evil of sudden inundations is connected therewith. 

The same diseases which make havoc in the Western 
States of the American Union, thin the Texian population, 
which was visited last year by a very unwelcome stranger — - 
the yellow fever. 

As for myself, I confess I do not see the seeds of the rise 
of such a country. A fact which says a great deal, and can 
be very easily verified by looking at the New-Orleans pa- 
pers, is the arrival at the latter place of about as many pas- 
sengers as leave it on their way to the Texian ports ; nor 
can I pay the compliment to Texas of presuming such peo- 
ple curious visitors, as its social configuration is like that of 
any new country, more repulsive than attractive. I there- 
fore look on those who return to the United States as upon 
disappointed people. 

The Americans say the population of Texas increases very 
fast; however, were it not for the farmers from Mississippi 
and other States, who were driven off by " hard times," and 
went with their negroes to Texas, its population, according 
to the accounts I obtained, would be either stationary or on 
the decline. The worst is, that they have almost no women 
— that pillar of society which ennobles and elevates it. 

The Texian dollar is worth four teen cents of New-Orleans 
money, which is, at the time I am writing, subject to a dis- 
count of from six to seven per cent, for its conversion into 
specie. 

Many will not like what I have said about Texas, but I 
cannot help it : they will perhaps look for a compensation 
in my accounts on the present standing of Mexico towards 
its rebellious colony. 

Once in three or six months you will never miss seeing 
the report that " Mexico is about recognizing Texas;" please 
take them as visions of some Texian landholders, because 
the Mexicans will never think of it. 

1 had the curiosity to know, and tried to discover the in- 
tentions of the Mexican government in reference to Texas, 
but could not make out any thing positive ; what I think I 
could perceive is, that they will try again for the recovery 
of that domain. I even overheard that the command of a 
new expedition had been some time ago offered to a general 
who declined it on the ground that no new attempt must be 
made without judicious preparations and adequate means. 
As soon, then, as they are ready (and they will never be un- 
til their domestic broils be appeased), they will, I have no 
doubt, invade Texas. What the result will be, it is rather 



108 A VOYAGE TO 

hard to say in advance, while as to the project itself, I con- 
sider it quite natural. 

If Texas were in other hands, being as I briefly described 
it to be, it would either fade away by itself, or subsist in 
the form of a skeleton ; but, the Anglo-Irish-German-French- 
Saxon race is not so easily dispirited. Other people in their 
place, though left undisturbed, would say " let us go back 
to our country ; it has as much virgin land and much better 
than we can get here ; it wants population very much, and 
we could contribute to the increasing prosperity of our dear 
home." Not so the go-aheads who inhabit Texas. They 
will stick as long as they can to the country made by them- 
selves. Should the Mexicans fear nothing beyond a peace- 
able occupation of that territory which was theirs, it would 
not ultimately be a great calamity, but the restless temper 
of such neighbours would never allow them a moment of 
rest. 

The Anglo-mixt descendants, the sons of the pioneers of 
the West, must, at all events, run for adventures ; if the 
country is poor, in order to make some valuable addition to 
it; if the country thrives, for the boldness which their 
prosperity would inspire them with ; not to mention that 
Mexico has a fatal attraction for adventurers in its gold and 
silver fountains. Be it as it may, the Texians are there to 
vex the Mexicans, whose policy must be to make every 
effort and sacrifice in their power to free themselves of such 
troublesome borderers. Self preservation suggests to them 
this course. If the Mexicans fail again, they will have to 
deplore their fate ; but, if they do not try, they will answer 
to posterity for the evils which shall inevitably weigh on 
their beautiful country. So much for Texas. 

I left the city of Mexico for Puebla on the 20th of March. 
This city once rivalled Tenochtitlan in industry, commerce 
and population : as concerns industry, it is, even now, 
ahead of the capital. Many cotton, wool, paper, china, 
glass and iron manufactories are in full activity in Puebla, 
which might be called the Manchester of the Mexican re- 
public. Its commerce is quite nourishing. 

Though not to be compared with the capital in extent, 
Puebla is superior to it in the regularity of the streets and 
buildings, as well as in neatness and in an external appear- 
ance of comfort : the sight of a stranger is not offended 
there by so many emaciated and nasty looking creatures as 
in the city of Mexico. 

The governor had issued an ordinance, whereby all the 
ow T ners of houses in Puebla were compelled to paint them 



MEXICO AND HAVANNA. 109 

externally, and, as the work was far advanced at the time 
I was in that city, it contributed to make it look much 
prettier. 

Society is said to be better in Puebla than in the capital ; 
and, were it not for the dominant hypocrisy, methinks, I 
should prefer making my residence in the second than in the 
first city of the Mexican republic. 

In due honor to general Codallios, I must repeat here 
the observation I made to him in reference to the troops 
within his district, that are much better clad and kept 
than in the capital. 

The population of Puebla is almost entirely Mexican. It 
wants to shake off the prejudices which keep it in a state of 
blind submission to the clergy. 

Puebla is similar to the capital in not having standing 
monuments worthy of notice. 

Its cathedral is a small temple, but of an exquisite archi- 
tecture, and the cipreso, or great altar, is second in richness 
to none. Churches are not so numerous there as in Mexico. 
They have, as in the capital, beautiful promenades, massy 
palaces, hospitals and other benevolent institutions. 

The climate of Puebla is cooler than that of Mexico : the 
vegetation all around is of striking beauty. 

I noticed before my visit to the tomb of general Mejia, 
which is at a farm on the right side of the road between 
Omozoque and La Venta del Pinal. On my way to the 
Napoluca the rain caught me, in consequence of which, as 
soon as I got to the last place, I gave up my horse to one 
of the dragoons who escorted me, in order to repair into a 
house and warm myself; but, in going back to see how my 
horse was taken care of, I perceived that a bundle I had 
tied behind my saddle had been touched, and, on a closer 
inspection, I found missing a few dollars, a breast-pin and 
some other articles. Angry that one of the very soldiers 
who were to protect me from robbers should rob me, I ex- 
postulated with the sergeant who commanded the post, and 
recovered my breast-pin, nothing more ; well could I, how- 
ever, have spared the trouble of claiming a part, as, be- 
tween Santa Fe and Vera Cruz, I was robbed of the whole 
bundle ; wherewith I lost my passport, some introductions 
for Vera Cruz and Havanna, besides a pocket memorandum 
book, which would have assisted me in the compilation of 
this little work. 

At Perote I went to deliver my introduction to the com- 
mander of the castle, in order to change my escort and 
proceed. There I saw general Urrea walking in a corri- 

L 



110 A VOYAGE tftf 

dor on which the commander's habitation opened. I heard 
there was some apprehension of a pronunciamento, or revo- 
lution, as being near to take place among the garrison of 
the castle, but nothing occurred. 

In pursuing my way to Jalapa, I asked my escort abottt 
general Urrea, and could plainly see that the latter had 
many friends among the soldiery. They said he had plenty 
of money, and that when a soldier wanted succor he had 
only to apply to the prisoner to obtain it. Now, if the as- 
sertion be true, as from the way it came it is likely to be, 
those who call the Mexican rulers " tyrants'' ought to look 
in the dictionary for some other appellative, better in ac- 
cordance with their witless conduct. 

The indecision shown by the Mexican government touch- 
ing general Urrea is unaccountable. His case was clear 
enough to cause a sentence, whatever it might be, to be 
pronounced in twenty-four hours after he was seized. Peo- 
ple say, the government dare not condemn him ; the great- 
est probability, nevertheless, is, that some golden key has 
been successfully tried at the door of his judges.* 

* My work was ready when the news came that the federalists 
had made an attempt upon the city of Mexico, which resulted in a 
new complete failure, and served only to plunge in deeper distress 
that country. 

I did not make a single alteration in it ; only I wished to add an 
account of the aforementioned new disturbances. As I passed lately 
through Washington, I made application to the Mexican commis- 
sioners now sitting there, but I could not obtain any satisfactory in- 
formation : however, by the little I could see through the Mexican 
papers, I think what follows can be safely asserted. 

General Urrea was sent from Perote to the capital. His start and 
arrival in the city of Mexico were announced by the papers of New 
Orleans in moving notes, because, as they said, he was thrown at 
the mercy of the Inquisition. (To speak of Inquisition in Mexico at 
this time, would be the same as to speak of gendarmerie in the United 
States.) 

His removal was, no doubt, the work of the same hands which 
supplied him with money whilst a state prisoner in the castle of 
Perote. 

[f those who govern Mexico are tyrants, what stupid tyrants must 
they not be? since, immediately after the acquittal of general Urrea, 
(another issue of the cabalistic manoeuvres of his party) they were 
taken themselves by surprise in their head quarters. 

The release of the acquitted federalist chief was the signal of the 
revolt. The president of the republic, general Filisola, and other 
high officers were taken prisoners, and saw their lives in danger. — 
Bustamente behaved gallantly. The civil war broke out ; a simulta- 
neous attack was directed by the federalists against different points ; 
much blood was shed ; many innocent victims were immolated to the 
rage of party; several public and private buildings were reduced 
into heaps of ruins ; the property of many harmless citizens was 



MEXICO AND HAVANNA* 111 

The country around Jalapa displays such a luxuriant 
Fecundity of soil as none can imagine unless on seeing it, 
while the city itself is rather a dull looking place. Jalapa 
is said to be the most hospitable city in that country, and is, 
probably, the cheapest place too* 

I arrived at length in Vera Cruz. That city has conti- 
nued falling ever since the expulsion of the Spanish govern- 
ment, and seems almost depopulated. Were it kept clean 
it would be a pretty place ; but, every thing is in a state of 
abandonment and decay. Vera Cruz is celebrated for its 
sickly climate, and some call it "the abode of death." So 
pestiferous and destructive is the atmosphere, that meat de- 
composes instantly ; they must, therefore, as soon as they 
kill an animal, salt it: and so loaded is the air with oxygen, 
that it eats away iron and other metals in a short time. 

The zopilote, a bird very common through Mexico, an- 
swers in Vera Cruz the purpose of purging the air of insects 
and miasmas. There is a fine of twenty-five dollars for 
killing any such bird, while they are careless about filthi- 
ness heaped up or stagnant in the streets, which must do 
more harm than the zopilotes do good. 

A foreigner, full of fancy about that " land of promise," 
who first lands at Vera Cruz, must be almost frightened by 
its desolate appearance. The barrenness which is to be 
seen all around chills a looker-on. Some nopals alone grow 
on the sandy mountains that gather upon the shore, as if to 
relieve the desert prospect of an entirely sterile and dreary 
nature. 

I saw in Vera Cruz old general Victoria, who was the 
first president of the republic of Mexico, and is now com- 
mander of that department or province. 

I visited the fort of St. Juan de Ulua, which is situated 
on an island in front of Vera Cruz, at a distance of about 
three-quarters of a mile. The Spaniards spared no money 
its construction ; yet, it is an old concern, and it was 
nonsense to call it, as the French did, after they made it sur- 
render, " the Gibraltar of America, the queen of the seas, 
virgin of all stains." 

As far back as 1805, general Constanzo, in a report to 

destroyed, and the end of all that, confirmed my impression that 
federalism is not popular in Mexico 

General Urrea was allowed to leave the country, which he will, of 
course, re-visit sword in hand at the first opportunity. Poor Mexico ! 
how thy fate deserves pity ! When the intelligence of the insurrec- 
tion reached Santa Anna, he offered his services, which were de- 
clined ; an event that happened, also, in perfect accordance with my 
notions about the present popularity of the " Mexican Napoleon." 

h 2 



112 A VOYAGE TO 

the Spanish vice-king, Iturragaray, bearing the date of the 
28th of November, informed him that the castle could not be 
held against an attack from a strong fleet. Still farther back, 
or in 1775, a committee composed of two Spanish generals 
and three colonels, who ha*d been sent purposely by their 
government to examine the state of the castle, and determine 
upon the forces necessary for its defence, reported that, to 
make it tenable, Ulua should be garrisoned by seventeen 
hundred infantry, five hundred artillery and two hundred 
and twenty-eight sailors, besides a strong fleet; now, the 
means of offensive warfare having progressed so much since 
that time, no one could reasonably expect that Ulua would 
hold out against the French squadron, even if the Mexicans 
should have been properly prepared to receive the enemy; 
but they were not. The number of their cannons was not 
half the complement required, or there were one hundred 
and seventy-seven, instead of three hundred and sixty; and 
what is still worse, they had no proper hands to manage 
them. I need not speak of the poor navy they had, as it is 
well known. 

I have not the least intention to raise any doubt with 
respect to the French attack: it was gallantly and skilfully 
conducted. I shall say, however, that their strategy, or the 
incontestable superiority of the means of attack compared 
with the means of defence, was enough to make the victory 
certain. There was the usual charge of cowardice against 
the Mexicans ; however, all eye-witnesses attest that neither 
before nor after the crash of the eahallero alto, the " poor 
devils' ' ever ceased firing and falling. 

I do not pretend to say on whom the blame lays, inasmuch 
as Gen. Rincon was brought before a court martial, and ac- 
quitted ; but many inexcusable faults were committed on 
that occasion. One of them was the confidence that the 
enemy's large men-of-war could not, on account of the shal- 
low water, approach the weakest side of the fortress so near 
as to fire with effect, while precisely from thence did the 
French fire most effectually. Another great, nay unaccount- 
able mistake was, that of leaving a part of the infantry di- 
rectly exposed to the destructive fire of the French, on a re- 
doubt only sheltered by a low parapet, wherefrom they 
could not molest the enemy, whilst the French artillery 
swept them away ; still they did not fly ! and I would ask, 
if behaving as the Mexicans did, they deserve the scorn 
wherewith they are treated; but when men, or I should 
even say nations, adopt any erroneous opinion, it must 
survive them. Should all Mexicans turn out as many 



Mexico and havanna. 113 

Hectors, their reputation on this head would not be easily 
reinstated. 

Some of the outworks of Ulua had been since repaired ; 
yet the fort is altogether in a pitiful state. Col. Soto, the 
present commander of that castle, made a very judicious 
report upon the convenience of holding or abandoning that 
fortress. "Ulua," says he, "would be of no use, unless 
having certain repairs and additions made ; but where is 
the money to complete them 1 Where are the funds to 
create a navy 1 He suggests, therefore, the erection of new 
and strong ramparts, besides an accurate repair of the now 
sinking fortifications of Vera Cruz, giving up Ulua entirely. 
What they will do it is too uncertain to anticipate ; the 
wisest course is, however, but too seldom followed in that 
country. Gen. Filisola, recommended the abandonment of 
Ulua some ten or fifteen years ago. 

The Mexicans will probably dislike some of my observa- 
tions and accounts; but I had not the remotest intention to 
court them, as it would indeed be my last thought with re- 
gard to any people or person. I am then persuaded that 
only by pointing at the abuses of a country a man may ex- 
pect to be relied upon in his representation of what is lau- 
dable in it. My chief object was to eradicate some preju- 
dices in existence against Mexico ; although I cannot flatter 
myself much with the hope of success. A mark once stamp- 
ed upon a nation centuries will not efface; and without 
going far for evidence, I shall speak of the general impres- 
sions prevalent at New-Orleans and most of the Southern 
States, in reference to the Kentuckians. The word " Ken- 
tuck" conveys generally mean, very mean connexions; how- 
ever, I have travelled a great deal through the United States, 
and I call Kentucky my favourite State. The kindness, hos- 
pitality and politeness I met with there, I have not found 
anywhere else in this country. 

The first Kentuckians who went down the river with flat 
boats to sell flour and tobacco, account for the prejudices 
existing against Kentucky. They were a set of desperadoes, 
or of that low cast which generally flock to new settlements. 
Since that time the Kentuckians have become polished ; so 
much so that no other State in the Union (making due al- 
lowance for the difference of population) can muster as many 
talented statesmen, lawyers and divines as Kentucky. 

To reduce in the mind of man all things to their real 
value, would be to attain what is inconsistent with human 
nature — the dream of all sages, perfection. There is a 
charge preferred against my native country — the use of dag- 

h 3 



114 A VOYAGE TO 

gers ; however, entire provinces or states can be pointed at 
in Italy, where hardly one in five hundred persons carries 
even a penknife in his pocket ; while in the United States 
scarcely a youth goes into the street without a dagger, dirk, 
poinard, knife, or bowie-knife, which could be called an 
improvement on the Italian stilletto. 

In Italy (with exception of few provinces) the laws 
against carrying arms or selling them are inexorable ; here 
they sell murderous weapons as freely or unconcernedly 
as they do bibles ; and we must be sure that many, if not 
most of the lamentable occurrences we read daily in the pa- 
pers, are chiefly caused by the non-enforcement of the law 
against wearing arms. In some places men will be seen in 
houses of public resort picking their teeth with a dagger, as 
I saw them in New-Orleans, without producing the least 
sensation on the other persons present. 

The vendetta or revenge was once in Italy, and is still 
in some of its islands, a dreadful minister of death ; how- 
ever, it is very questionable which is worse, the vendetta or 
the facility with which death-blows are struck in the United 
States for real trifles. The most insignificant difficulty a 
man gets into here, he resorts to arms, and hence so many 
cold, startling, bloody transactions. 

Will ever these prejudices against the modern Ken- 
tuckians or Italians — w r ho are no longer the Italians or Ken- 
tuckians of old — disappear ? I expect, never. 

Some will remark how often I lay a stress on the number 
of crimes which take place in the United States. I shall 
now allude to the causes of bloodshed in this country, be- 
sides that of letting the offenders go unpunished. Not that 
I intend to justify such deplorable events; but to show that 
there does not exist full reason to accuse the whole nation 
of acts which are but partial and misrepresented. 

As every one knows there is a notable difference in this 
respect between the old and new States. In the old settle- 
ments of the country, where from the remotest time people 
acknowledged the salutary supremacy of laws, only persons 
of the lowest description think of bowie-knives or pistols to 
settle their differences in a summary way; in the new States, 
Bad as it may be, it is unfortunately, if not general, at least 
common to all classes. We must, however, remember the 
circumstances under which they formed themselves, and 
grew to their present standing. 

We should really be unjust were we to forget that such 
States, where the life of a man is at any time jeopardized as 
a mere nothing, little more than half a century ago were 



MEXICO AND HAVANNA. 115 

hunting-grounds of the "red race." At that time a few 
"pale faces," or adventurers, first explored those distant re- 
gions, and paid with the life of their dearest, if not with their 
own, for the soil of which they took possession, and which 
they bequeathed, wet with Indian blood, to their sons. 

None must dream of associating any noble feeling or ge- 
nerous instinct with the dissipated and lawless people who 
first crossed the mountains to challenge the Indian toma- 
hawk. A daring temper was the only requisite of those who 
embarked in such expeditions. Had they possessed any 
ornamental quality, they would have failed ; since it was 
not a regular war they were to wage against the " tenants 
of the wilderness," but a murderous warfare they sought to 
carry through the country to strip the aborigines of their 
property : nor can a few honorable characters which sprung 
up from among that set of low creatures, change the color 
of the whole. 

During the time the invaders could escape being scalped 
only by butchering the red men, they had no more laws than 
freebooters ; and when their work of pillage was achieved, 
when the noble warriors had been driven off from their na- 
tive ground, they constituted nothing else but a wretched 
assemblage of people who, accustomed to spill human blood, 
whenever any contest arose among them turned their arms 
against each other, against their acquaintance, neighbor, 
friend, or relation. Force had given them the land and all 
they had, force was to decide every controversy. 

Many pioneers, in order to secure to themselves a wife 
(the article was then very much in demand) were too often 
placed in the necessity of defying the combined attacks of a 
troop of disappointed candidates. It is horrible to hear of 
eyes pulled out, noses, ears, lips, chins bitten off, and other 
similar savage acts performed, when bodily strength was 
the supreme power. 

In the midst of such a confusion, emigrants from the old 
States, as well as from abroad, made for the backwoods, for 
the promised virgin land of the West. They brought with 
them the germs of society; and laws began to take the place 
of the code which the first settlers had written on the blade 
of their knives. 

Things proceeded more smoothly, and went on always 
better and better ; however, the impression of the epoch in 
which, there being no tribunal, every one was himself the 
law, the judge and the executioner, is too fresh in the minds 
of the people of the States to which I refer, to pretend that 
such false notions of right may be altogether effaced. 



116 A VOYAGE TO 

It is a matter of deep mortification to see that not only 
among the unprincipled — who know no human, social, or 
divine restriction — erroneous impressions prevail, but with 
society at large. In nearly all countries of Europe, he who 
takes another man's life will have a great deal to do to es- 
cape either expiating his crime on a scaffold, or there exist- 
ing extenuating circumstances, confinement with hard labor 
for many years, if not all his life ; even a man who unde- 
signedly kills a fellow-being, will suffer some punishment, 
which in the mind of the judge is intended to make him and 
others more cautious. In the new American States, on the 
contrary, a great deal is required before any punishment 
whatever be inflicted, even on the most cold-blooded mur- 
derer. 

I recollect a warm conversation I had with a good fellow 
about a case in which a man, who was threatened with some 
blows, had supplied himself with a pair of pistols, which he 
carried in his pockets, with the intention of shooting his as- 
saulter. Thanks to the interference of some friends, the 
affair was settled ; but we were talking as if the attack had 
taken place, and in the supposition that the agressor had 
forfeited his life ; my clever friend insisted upon the right 
of the other to kill him; nay, he maintained that no jury 
could be found that would condemn the murderer. " I for 
the first," said he, " would rather starve than agree to punish 
such a man." 

My friend's opinion in similar cases would express the 
views of the whole community west of the Alleghany moun- 
tains. Such events happen there weekly, if not daily. Shall 
I add that, under the same circumstances, but few magis- 
trates would take notice of the occurrence ? I myself re- 
marked three instances of the kind, in which public opinion 
absolved the murderers, and spared them the trouble of even 
a mock trial. 

Louis XIV said once, " I am the law:" there almost 
every one will say so. Persons are to be pointed at in the 
Southern, Western and Middle States of America who have 
killed many a man, and whose reputation was by no means 
affected ; on the contrary, they often rose higher in public 
estimation ; partly for the fear they impress, but mostly be- 
cause people will say of them, " he is a strong man, a brave 
fellow !" 

It is a fact of public notoriety of an individual of high 
station who, on his way to his betrothed (she lived in an- 
other State) despatched in an affray a man or two, and who, 
in the interval between his bloody exploit and his trial, mar- 



MEXICO AND HAVANNA. 117 

ried the young lady. Where else would, at the present day, 
a female of any account accept a hand recently crimsoned 
with human blood 1 I sav, nowhere in the civilized world. 

This, however, not only happened in , but it did not 

create any sensation ; and when the same man, having of 
course been acquitted, went home, a meeting was called, 
and resolutions were passed to " compliment him on the cou- 
rage he had displayed, and to assure him of his fellow-citi- 
zens' unchanged consideration." 

I have indeed no design, and had I any, I should be at a 
loss how to palliate such events. That man, and every other 
such man may, during their short pilgrimage through the 
stage of this world, mock justice with impunity; there exists, 
however, another tribunal, where none are admitted to give 
bail, and with whose head none can expect to trifle. I 
wished to point at the wrong conceptions which are con- 
nected with such frightful transactions, whereby every one 
who, being insulted, does not shoot at his opponent, is brand- 
ed with infamy. 

I cannot let pass unnoticed a remark I heard from many 
persons about perhaps the best qualified private teacher in 

the State of . " We acknowledge he is so/' said they, 

" but we shall never send our children to his school, for he 
pretends that when any one of his pupils is wronged by 
others, the sufferer must refer to him, and let him punish - 
the offenders. By not allowing our children to settle their 
disputes by themselves, he makes them cowards f" 

It is of the highest moment that such false notions should 
give place to right ones ; and all really correct men ought 
to join their efforts to put a stop to the levity with which 
murders are perpetrated, misunderstood and judged ; inas- 
much as, amidst the general progress of society, not much 
improvement on this head is evinced in the States of which 
I am speaking. I heard some say that it has been worse 
and worse for the last four or five years ; although I know 
some places where that false chivalric spirit, whereby to kill 
a man is about the same as to kill a dog, has greatly sub- 
sided. The "hard times" have had perhaps the power of cool- 
ing the people, and bringing them to more inoffensive habits. 

The subject ought to be so seriously contemplated as to in- 
duce all parents and instructors to exert their influence and 
authority early, to impress youth with different ideas of the 
true rights of man : the pulpit and the press should do the 
rest to crown the noble effort. Let the intercourse with 
every man, who is not himself a scoundrel, be cut off from 
the murderer ; the curse of his fellow-beings will prove by 



118 A VOYAGE TO 

itself a strong restraint to others, until punishment, treading 
upon the the heel of the offence, may keep bullies in awe, 
and grant to justice full control over a fatal prejudice that 
places sometimes even peaceable men at the mercy of any 
villain; or to avoid it and shun public infamy, obliges them 
to become murderers. 



CHAPTER IX. 

Voyage from Vera Cruz to Havanna — Americans who winter there — 
Remarks on the physical constitution of the people of the United 
States — Commerce in Havanna — Spanish troops in the island of 
Cuha — Its climate, diseases, and necessary precautions — Prince of 
Angloaa, the present governor of that island — Police in Havanna — 
Houses there — Clergy — Lotteries — Steam Ships — Rail Roads — 
Manners. 

I sailed from Vera Cruz, on the 3rd of April, for Havan- 
na, on board the Villanueva, captain Gomez, (a Spanish 
packet-schooner). The treatment was splendid. I shall, 
by the way, be permitted to remark, that there were fifteen 
passengers ; but I never before saw such a casual collec- 
tion of deformed beings. They were all Spaniards and 
Mexicans. I once thought of counting their eyes, and found 
but twenty-three ; so that there was an average of about 
one eye and a half each passenger, instead of two. 

At the distance of one hundred miles from the island of 
Cuba, we fell in with the British brig Racer, whose com- 
mander sent an officer on board to see if we were " dealers 
in .coal," as slavers are called. Next day we fell in with a 
corvette, likewise belonging to the British navy ; so that I 
perceived they kept a pretty sharp watch on the dealers in 
human flesh. 

The evening of the 19th we were hailed by the Castel del 
Mors. As it was Holy Friday, according to the custom of 
catholic countries, all bells were muffled. In Havanna car- 
riages are not allowed to run during the commemoration of 
our Lord's death ; although a curious contrast was exhibited 
by the vibrating notes of a military band, playing within 
musket-shot from the place where the schooner rode at 
anchor. Every person, even if residing in Havanna, (ladies 
excepted) must give a guarantee whereupon the writ of 
landing is signed by the governor. There had been much 
talk about such formality during the passage. It can even 
be called a mere formality, since the person who stands 



MEXICO AND ftAVANNA. 119 

Security does not pledge himself in a way to incur any se- 
rious obligation ; however, as they said, it was enforced 
with extreme rigor, no passenger being allowed to land 
unless after having obtained the jpapeleta or import. 

A guard was put on board, who was intrusted with the 
special care of watching the passengers ; but I soon found 
I was in a Spanish country, for I saw half-a-dozen of our 
passengers, who, after shaking hands with the faithful 
guard, went smoothly ashore, perhaps to take the papeleta 
themselves ! 

I do not pretend to dwell much on Havanna, as it is a 
place so well known to the Americans, and only one of the 
letters of introduction which I had, was saved from the loss 
of my bundle. I shall, however, point at what mostly fixed 
my attention there ; and my accounts may not prove void 
of interest, for the Americans, who winter in that city, are 
generally haggard, pale, thin, coughing, and blood-spitting 
people ; who have enough to do with their physicians to 
see if their lease of life can be lengthened, and do not care 
much for the pretty Havanneras, or anything else not in 
their way.* 

* It is astonishing how generally weak and poor is the young and 
rising generation of the United States, especially west of the Alle- 
ghanies. I do not, here, compare them with the stout and vigorous 
people from the North, but from the south of Europe. Except some 
old men, who challenge every youth, the American population is 
mostly composed of faint, delicate, and sickly persons. During my 
residence here and there, I scarcely met with any of my acquaint- 
ances without hearing some past or present complaint: — the wet 
weather, the dry season, the dust, the air, and the rain, as well as 
the least disorder, will affect them. Among ladies, you see such 
handsome creatures, who strike you at first sight ; but, if you pro- 
ceed to analyze them, they are glasses which a breath will cloud — 
their countenance betokens the extreme of feebleness. An American 
at thirty years of age is generally worn out; at forty he is old ; nor do 
I refer to dissipated, but to sober persons. I do not think there is 
another country where one encounters so many young widows and 
widowers as in the United States. When an American contracts a 
serious malady after being thirty-five or forty years old, he very sel- 
dom gets through it. Consumption, that fatal disease, which, with- 
out mercy, cuts off so many green trees whilst in their full bloom, 
and is often transmitted from generation to generation, preys dread- 
fully upon this country. The whole demands the accurate investiga^ 
tions of medical men. I shall, in the meantime, mention some 
among the causes, of those which can be detected by unprofessional 
eyes and minds. One of the most incontestable and principal causes 
is, their early marriages, it being very common to see in this country 
girls entering upon the duties of mothers at the age of fifteen, and 
even before. By force of a destructive prejudice, it is considered 
almost a shame for an American young lady to attain, unmarried, the 
age of eighteen or twenty. They forget, however, that in accord- 



120 A VOYAGE TO 

Havanna is one of the most delightful places I ever saw, 
The brilliancy of the sky, the commanding view of the sea, 
the gaiety of the evergreen environs, the spacious basin 
with its forest of masts, evincing the extensive trade of the 
place, and a kind of prosperity which shows itself at every 
step, render that city highly agreeable and interesting. 

The spirit of commerce and enterprise which distin- 
guishes the Americans, presents itself in all ports of the 
island of Cuba, where there are generally more American 
vessels than vessels of all other nations put together. 

Very strange is the system in which the commerce of im- 
portation is carried on in Havanna. There are companies, 
mostly, or altogether, carried on by Catalans, which attend 
to an exclusive branch, without any interference with each 
other. They purchase full cargoes, ?jid then sell them to 
the retailers. It is, therefore, a monopoly, for should the 
consignee of a cargo, or part of it, ever try to sell the 
goods to the retailers himself, he would find but few, or the 
rich, who alone would trade with him ; the others being 
bound to keep good with the companies would never listen 

ance with the laws of nature, before thinking of making others' 
bones they must make their own. Next comes tight lacing, whereby 
they so unmercifully compress their ribs and breast, as to prevent 
digestion ; next to it there is the carelessness or indulgence in allow- 
ing children to eat what they please, in consequence of which, during 
the fruit season, more than half of the children are sick. Then 
comes the post-haste eating, and the general avidity for meat, upon 
which Americans feed almost exclusively ; then, with the Americans, 
every dish must be strongly spiced, and every beverage strong as it 
can be ; not to mention, that salt, pepper, mustard, vinegar, and 
whatever stimulates, is used with profusion even by tender persons. 
I never saw, except in the United States, young ladies eating bread 
and salt, or salt alone. I felt particulary sorry for one of them, a 
most amiable creature, who was, alas, already in the grasp of con- 
sumption and ate salt. The practice of eating bread as hot as they 
can bear, is prejudicial too; and last, not least, the immoderate use 
of calomel, which is (I speak chiefly of the West and South) admin- 
istered for every disease, that is to say, from a congestive fever, or 
bowel complaint, down to a tooth-ache or a sore finger. When they 
send for a physician it is only to know how much calomel they must 
take. I have known a great many children six or seven years old, 
who had already taken from one hundred and fifty to two hundred 
grains of that pernicious medicine. Many Americans grow up, 
literally, saturated with mercury. But the most unaccountable ex- 
travagancy among sick persons in the United States is seen, when, 
although seriously indisposed, they take their regular meals as if 
they were well; on the very death-bed they will alternately swallow 
slices of their favorite ham or bacon, and some pills — they will drink 
a cup of strong tea or coffee, on a potion, or vice versa. As a nation, 
the Americans have the advantage of being, perhaps, alone, in eating 
and drinking to their last moment. 



MEXICO AND HAVANNA. 121 

to him. How far this mode of dealing be advantageous to 
a business place like Havanna, I leave others to say. 

The island of Cuba being a source of great profit to its 
mother-country, Spain, to watch this jewel of its crown, 
keeps constantly there an army of between twenty-five and 
thirty thousand soldiers. The capital alone, including the 
different forts around it, has a garrison of twelve thousand 
men of all arms, so elegantly dressed that I could hardly be- 
lieve my eyes, comparing them with the soldiery I saw in 
Spain. The contrast, however, is easily explained by the 
infinite difference existing between the Peninsula and Cuba: 
one, a sick, decaying body ; the other, daily diffusing new 
vigor and life through its many arteries. If the troops in 
Havanna are as brave as they are richly mounted and hand- 
some looking, I do not know ; but at the interment of a cap- 
tain of a frigate, I remarked that the infantry displayed to 
pay the last honors to the demised officer, executed a couple 
of volleys so badly as to discredit even a body of raw recruits 
in other countries. 

One cannot move in Havanna without seeing relics of Ta- 
con. The city in itself is not pretty; yet since they had 
him as governor it is clean, which greatly contributes to its 
present healthy state. Even the yellow fever, formerly so 
much dreaded, has in some way abated, or is not any longer 
dangerous, provided the person who is taken sick hastens, 
as soon as he feels the first symptoms of the invasion, to the 
well-known remedies. Many among those who are attacked 
by the disease will pass safe through it, with the assistance 
of some old nurses alone. There are also ladies who, ani- 
mated by the most honorable spirit of philanthropy, will 
nurse strangers, and feel proud to restore them without any 
medical assistance. 

Much is said in favor of the climate of Havanna, and its 
cooling periodical breeze; it was, however, oppressively 
warm at the time I was there. As in all hot regions, baths 
are good for the health. Some care must be taken to drink 
neither pure nor cold water, nor to indulge in fruits, nor to 
drink after having eaten certain fruits. One must beware 
of exposing one's self to coups aVair when in a perspiration, 
and of never drinking water after a cup of chocolate. A 
new visiter to Havanna has in short to store his mind with 
a list of little precautions in order to get along suitably with 
the exigencies of the climate. 

Living is dearer than in New-Orleans, while poultry, 
meat, bread and many other articles are very indifferent. 

Foreigners generally take up their lodgings in the sub- 



122 



A VOYAGE TO 



urbs or extra-muros, where there seems to be more liveli- 
ness than in the city: although there is a general complaint 
of a deficiency of social spirit. 

Some military bands played by turns every evening at the 
plaza de armas y where I was greatly amused by those noc- 
turnal melodies echoing amidst a crowd of partly sitting, 
partly walking beauties. The Havanneros are very fond 
of music, and do not want much to become intelligent. 
They have almost constantly a tolerably good Italian opera. 

Prince d'Anglona, the present governor, follows the steps 
of Tacon ; and, as it is well known, there is much more fa- 
cility to keep up, than to make a good road. He is particu- 
larly severe against gambling. Not long before I was there, 
he caused the names of some persons who had been found 
in a house of the kind, to be published in the papers, besides 
subjecting them to the usual fine for such transgressions. 

There are lotteries, which are monopolized by the govern- 
ment; they are drawn semi-monthly, and are properly con- 
ducted. It is an indirect tax on the people — true; but they 
are not swindling contrivances or rat-traps to the incredu- 
lous, like in the United States, where people never see any 
winner of large premiums noticed, whilst runaway schemers 
are often advertised ; and I chiefly refer here to the Great 
Heal Estate Lottery of Louisiana, whereby one Sylvester 
and associates duped the public. 

Wearing arms is an offence liable to six years of " forced 
works" in Havanna, where public order is never troubled. 
During the night there are serenos, or hour and weather tel- 
lers, who act as watchmen, and arrest any person they meet 
with in the streets after ten or eleven o'clock, unless they 
know him, or find the reason given for his being out so late 
creditable. Such transgressors, as well as drunkards are ir- 
revocably fined. After a certain hour, according to the sea- 
son, all negroes must be at home, while no assembly of co- 
loured people is allowed after sunset; not even two can 
walk together, or stand in the streets. 

In building houses they go entirely for solidity : none of 
the large palaces where the nobility live are elegant ; while 
their porticos are invariably adorned with sugar-boxes or 
coffee-bags. 

The Havanneros, or ladies of Havanna, are, like the Spa- 
niards, rather small as regards height, but plump, supple 
and graceful : black eyes and diminutive feet are articles in 
great abundance there. Ladies never go even the least dis- 
tance, except in their quitrin or volante (a long cabriolet), 
whose construction is somehow odd, although they are very 



MEXICO AND HAtANNA* 123 

*easy and often elegant. Only the nobility are permitted to 
drive a coach and pair. 

It is a strange sight to see in some houses which have no 
portico, the street-door opening on the parlor, and the vo- 
lante forming part of the furniture: that is not all; the horse 
or horses must pass through the parlor to go to tire stable, 
and it frequently happens that these noble, but uneducated 
animals forget in their passage every respect they owe to 
the collected company ; a shameful event of the kind, too 
odd to be passed over, was witnessed by me. Its very odd- 
ness entices me to relate it, and will apologize, I hope, for a 
breach of propriety. 

The company was numerous, and every thing bespoke 
that mirth which is always exhibited at the end of a good 
family dinner, when the coffee was served. The ladies 
were to go al paseo de Tacon immediately after dinner, and 
the volantes of course were to be ready. A horse which had 
not learnt the Galateo (a work written by Mr. Delia Casa, 
of Florence, in the sixteenth century to warn people against 
what is inconsistent with good breeding), in crossing the par- 
lor just at that time, took the liberty of spreading so strange 
and strong a smell, as to supersede the balmy fragrance of 
the smoking beverage. 

Let us proceed to some more substantial argument. 

I saw many institutions advertised, but I had not the op- 
portunity of visiting any. 

Tacon placed the clergy on a standing that becomes the 
ministers of the gospel. The churches in Havanna are few, 
and rather in a state of decay. In a neat chapel on the 
plaza de armas is shown the altar on which the first mass 
was celebrated this side the Atlantic. 

In the lonja or exchange, where every person has free 
admittance, papers are to be found from almost every quar- 
ter of the globe, and strangers meet there. There are small 
steam-ships plying between the capital and Matanzas, as well 
as between St. Jago de Cuba and some adjacent places. 

Different railroads are in progress, and will increase the 
commerce with the interior of the island. I went by rail- 
road as far as Nigties. 

Travelling is now as safe in the island of Cuba as any- 
where else ; however, a traveller must be armed on account 
of the sudden risings of negroes, which happen now and 
then. In such occurrences, a couple of Spaniards or Creoles 
on horseback will attack and subdue a band of fifty or more 
slaves, though the latter are generally armed with machetes, 
or long knives, which they use to cut the sugar-cane. 

l 2 



124 A VOYAGE TO 

I had not much time nor opportunity to look into the mo- 
ral condition of Havanna : I am, however, impressed it is, 
in some respects, at a very low ebb, for I saw what I had 
not seen even in Mexico — I mean here the confusion of good 
and bad houses in the very principal streets. Rows of low 
wretched shops, the abode of vice in its most hideous ap- 
pearance are to be seen in front, or in the basement of lofty 
palaces, betokening richness and splendor; now the owners 
of such mansions who do not object to such a shocking sight, 
and do not for the sake of their daughters and wives, re- 
move it, must not be Socrates, Senecas, or Platos. 

To expect, under the relaxing climate of the tropics, the 
same grave, austere tempers of the northern climates, would 
be foolish. Some allowance must be made for tendencies 
which are contracted from nature, or under the influence of 
a somehow irresistible power ; but the tolerance of scandal 
is the same offence, no matter where. It sows corruption 
of manners, and by divesting vice of its most offending part, 
not only habituates society to it, but makes people boast 
of it and carry it as in triumph. 

In the language of a master poet of the English literature,, 

" Vice is a monster of such frightful mien, 
As to be hated, needs but to be seen ; 
Yet seen too oft, familiar with her face, 
We first endure, then pity, then embraced* 



chapter x. 

Slavery in the United States — Abolition and abolitionists — Case of 
the Spanish schooner Amistad — Montez and Ruiz put into prison — 
Why the president of the United States did not interfere— Slavery 
in the island of Cuba — Difference of laws in reference to slaves 
between that island and the United States — The slave trade — The 
English pursuing slavers — The Spanish authorities in the island of 
Cuba ? and the captains dealing with slaves — Voyage from Havanna 
to New-Orleans. 

I shall give my opinion on slavery in the United States 
and the island of Cuba or Havanna. 

During the time I have been in what the Americans call 
" slave States," I never ceased to examine the condition of 
slaves. 

It was in Kentucky that I first saw slavery ; and the first 



MEXICO AND HAVANNA. 125 

Sunday I passed in Lexington I was struck on seeing so 
many dandy-looking black people in the streets ; so much 
so that, as I was made aware of the existence of many free 
colored people, I thought they were of the number; how- 
ever, they were too many, and I soon gave up such a suppo- 
sition at discovering among them some young servants of 
my hotel. 

On being told that, very few excepted, they were all 
slaves — " how," said I, " can they make such a display ?" 
— and some persons informed me that almost every slave, in 
whatever pursuit he was engaged, has either some part of 
the time to work on his own account, or some extras ; so 
that, if he is sober, he can save money and ransom himself, 
as many colored people, who are now free, did by dint of 
industry and economy. 

It is not the same in the country ; however, a certain 
quantity of work is often allotted them to be performed in a 
given time ; and if they perform it sooner, they get money 
for the remaining time they work. 

Impressed as I was previously, I must avow, I somewhat 
hesitated to credit these assertions ; but I became entirely 
satisfied after having been made to consider that slaveholders 
do so consistently with their own interest, long experience 
having taught them that it is the only way to make the most 
of them. In many instances, had a master to oblige his ser- 
vants to work uninterruptedly for him, without allowing 
them the aforesaid chances of gain, he would not get half as 
much as by following the other system, nor would whips 
constantly kept m motion better answer his purpose. 

I travelled afterwards through Tennessee and other slave 
States, until I saw slavery in New Orleans; and I am satis- 
fied that slaves, or servants in slave States, are on a better 
footing than those who are doomed to the same fate in other 
countries. Such scenes of distress as so often occur in Eu- 
rope, of there being servants half starving, either because 
their masters, who keep them merely to gratify their pride, 
are half starved themselves, or on account of the scanty 
allowance of food granted to them in accordance with the 
rules of the family— such scenes, I say, are almost unknown 
in the United States, where, from the wealthiest down to 
the poorest, be the latter white or black, what constitutes 
the necessaries of life is exhibited, if not always in a bound- 
less profusion, in at least a full comfortable abundance. 

It is an undeniable fact, that the negroes are generally 
stout looking fellows, and one cannot imagine, unless one 
sees them, how merry they are— frolicksome, dancing, 

L o 



126 A VOYAGE 1<0 

playing, and apparently, at least, the happiest creatures in 
the world. 

My impression was, that a slave should be a mortal 
enemy of the whites, and chiefly of his master. I saw, 
however, servants both faithful and affectionate. I know, 
myself, slaves, who, having resided with their masters in 
free States beyond the time contemplated by the law, 
could at any moment be free, declining it; as I know 
slaves made free being so attached to their masters, that 
they would not on any account quit them. Slaves are 
found, who employed their earnings for the emancipation 
of their wives, fathers, sons, brothers or sisters, they them- 
selves remaining slaves. I was often told of slaves inform- 
ing their masters of the insidious suggestions of some lurk- 
ing abolitionist. General Filisola told me that some negroes 
from Texas, whom he had taken prisoners, requested, as 
soon as the campaign was over, to go back to their owners. 

Some will remark, that servants who are ill-treated in 
Europe, not being property of their masters, will leave 
them ; yet, it is not so. The first apprehension of a ser- 
vant in leaving a house is, to be unable to get a new one \ 
the second is, to change for the worse. 

Speaking of slaves, I wish to be well understood, I am 
far from believing, or wishing to make others believe, that 
I speak otherwise than of a disgraced and wretched set of 
people. I acknowledge that slavery is a curse. Who does 
not ] I wish, however, to demonstrate, that slaves here 
are in a much better situation than is commonly supposed 
by distant nations, and even by the people of some sections 
of this country. 

I am a Slave ! (they are tremendous words) subject to 
be disposed of, more as things than as men; they are im- 
plicitly liable to change of masters, and even to be parted 
from their relations. They represent, there is no doubt, 
that part of unhappy beings, who seem indispensable to 
suit the general laws of creation ; in the same way that, as 
every one knows, disorders, according to the same general 
system, are nothing else but elements of order. 

Now, it is pretty much the case, that Europeans rush, if 
not with more violence, at least much more bond Jide, against 
slavery ; still, I feel sorry at being obliged to avow, that, 
not taking servants alone, but mechanics, husbandmen, or, 
in short, all our poorer classes, we have nothing to boast 
in referring to them ; the slaves standing, not only far bet- 
ter than our poor white free people, but even better than 
the same class in the United States. 



MEXICO AND HAVANNA. 127 

It would be unfair to deny that the poor classes in Eu- 
rope work at least three hours a day more than negroes, 
whilst the latter have a more plentiful supply of food and 
are better clad. But how can I allude, without a broken 
heart, to those millions and millions of beings scattered 
throughout all Europe (Mexico not excepted) who are un- 
able to stir a step but from their huts to the plough, who, 
constantly indebted to the owner of the land they cultivate, 
are almost the^same as if they were their property; whose 
life is but a series of hardships, privations and sufferings, 
not exempt from moral degradation] free-born in words, 
slaves in fact. And how can I, without dismalness, think 
of the beggars, who, by thousands, within the very first of 
European capitals, in the midst of luxury, splendor and 
dissipation, get up every morning, not knowing by what 
means they may drag their miserable existence to the 
next day ] 

No such people here — no beggars ! the poorest blacks I 
ever saw were in the "free States;" there, alone, in spite 
of the plausible arguments uttered against slavery, I saw 
negroes stretching their hand to beg. 

Were I to be asked, whether the non-existence of slavery 
would not be preferable, I would hasten to reply yes'; as 
many of the owners of slaves would say themselves too. — 
Willingness and possibility, however, are two entirely 
different things, and we must separate them. 

Mature reflection on the situation and slow progress of 
most of the States in which slavery exists, comparatively 
with the gigantic advancement of the States where there is 
no slavery, or "free States," forces every person to say 
" slavery is a curse;" it cannot, however, be removed now. 
How can it be otherwise, when we consider that in some part 
of the slave States negroes are far more in number than 
whites'? Come! come here abolitionists ! emancipate them, 
spread knowledge among them, give them equality of rights, 
and you will see the result. Release them from the natural 
bonds which form the bulwark behind which the whites feel 
sheltered, and then will happen what makes me shudder if 
I only think of it. " Slavery is a curse," I say again, but 
an irredeemable one, at least for the present. Let the white 
population increase, and emancipation will come as a na- 
tural consequence, as it was in other States. None of the 
planters with whom I have conversed differ, in wishing to 
have white people about them, as they are well aware of 
the difference between the white and black laborer; but, 
where are these whites'? In this state of things the prema- 



128 A VOYAGE TO 

ture and injudicious or desperate efforts of the American 
abolitionists, who, almost in the very eyes of the slaves 
themselves, beat the drum and proclaim their emancipation 
cannot be looked upon but with regret. The abolitionists 

would make their own work that which can only be the 
work of time; whilst they keep up an exasperation of feel- 
ing between different States prejudicial to their mutual in- 
terests, which may sap the very fundamental organization, 
or annihilate the political existence of this country; not to 
mention that they injure much more than they better the 
condition of the objects of their pretended care, by the re- 
action which must unavoidably follow such attempts or en- 
croachments on others rights. 

I may, perhaps, be too severe or even unjust towards 
abolitionists, but I feel a great temptation to suppose, that 
the love of making a display of philanthropy and humane 
feelings prevails on them, as they know very well the mighty 
causes that oppose the accomplishment of their projects; 
and the results, dreadful for humanity, that would ensue, 
had things to go forcibly to suit their views. What I think 
I know well is, that these humane but misapplied and 
sometimes borrowed feelings are pretty much the cause for 
which travellers generally make a parade of every sort of 
cruelty and horrible excess when they talk on slavery. I 
should be indeed at a loss to state if most of them are 
not allured by a calculation of making an easy and deep 
impression on their readers, who generally yield with great 
facility to such emotions, and thus commending their works ; 
or if, delirious against slavery, they are prevented looking 
impartially at facts, and driven to see but that which happens 
in harmony with their deep-rooted notions. I fully charge, 
however, the few European authors whom I have read, 
with exaggeration in their accounts, which are far from 
truth on this subject. 

I shall grant there are masters who ill-use their slaves, 
but they are exceptions. Are there not, anywhere, masters 
who ill-treat servants, nay, nearest relations who ill-treat 
each other, and even mothers who treat brutally their own 
offspring? they are called monsters, and so are inhumane 
masters considered in the slave States of the American 
union. To believe that the majority, or even many among 
the masters, indulge in cruel acts against their negroes, 
would be equal to supposing our race much worse than it is. 

During the whole time of my residing or travelling 
through slave States, I have not seen slaves beaten more 
than three or four times, and the only person of whom I 



MEXICO AND HAVANNA 129 

heard people speaking as publicly ill-treating negroes was 

Mrs. T , about Lexington, Ky. ; whilst, if it were true 

that slave-holders unceasingly torment them, I think I could 
as well see or hear it as any other person. 

Those negroes who hire themselves are slaves only as 
concerns their obligation to pay a monthly tribute to their 
masters, because, for the rest, they live separately from 
them and do what they please, except that they are obliged 
to work in order to get, beside the money they are bound 
to count out every month, their subsistence. Myriads of 
of poor Europeans would indeed change their condition for 
that of such slaves. 

In case of sickness a slave is not obliged to seek refuge 
in a hospital, where the poor are not always properly 
treated : he is carefully attended by the same physician who 
devotes his services to his master's family. 

A few words more on the ill-treatment of slaves. There 
are vices, habits or inclinations more or less common to 
mankind, which make it difficult for many people to believe 
in virtue ; but here the case is quite different. To presume 
that most owners mercilessly flog and torture their slaves, 
would be an imputation of the most appalling and un- 
accountable ill-nature pronounced against them, or it would 
proclaim them more like cannibals than Christians ; but, as 
above all, there must be a cause for every thing — why 
ought they to act so? We must first acknowledge that 
their position is critical in itself and must make masters 
severe, but not barbarous ; as they would thus endanger it 
more and more. As among all races, there are among the 
blacks, good and bad people : to punish the latter and keep 
them in a state of awe, is not only a measure of self- 
defence, but tantamount to what is done among the whites 
too; while I cannot see why they should be cruel or even 
severe with the good. Let us, then, look into the question 
as concerns interest, that chief spring everywhere, of hu- 
man nature. How can a systematical ill-treatment of slaves 
be beneficial to their masters 1 I cannot conceive how it 
could prove so. 

I would finally ask, how is it, that white Europeans are 
such enraged abolitionists, if they become planters and own 
slaves they are particularly noted for ill-treating them ? and 
how is it that a black overseer or surveyor is always the 
most merciless towards his wretched fellows 1 they are, 
perhaps, among those anomalies which seem inseparable 
from the analysis of all great questions. Is not the very 
existence of slavery in the United States directly in opposi- 



130 A VOYAGE TO 

tion with the boast of American freedom, that rebounds 
from one pole to another? Let us avow, that a public, 
silly, proud or vain profession of virtue is often put for- 
ward but to hide weakness and vices. 

Such is, in my opinion, the case with abolitionism, which 
I consider a mere instrumental motto or disguise adopted 
by the Eastern people (as they are the most ferocious aboli- 
tionists), to pour out their hatred against the South. Were 
it a generous clan in favor of that part of our fellow beings 
whom the white man makes his slaves, I should not only 
nod, but applaud the noble efforts of the abolitionists; their 
cause would be the cause of humanity. But when I see 
that negroes in the non-slave-holding States are in a much 
more abject condition than in the slave States, I do not look 
for better proofs to demonstrate that the least they care for 
is the black race. The theory upon which abolitionists 
pretend to act is overthrown by practice • they are like 
many preachers, who, after delivering a beautiful sermon, 
or the most powerful and impressive specimen of men's 
duties, ought to add, " brethren, do what I say, not what 
I do." 

Since I have dared to say that the Americans convert 
religion into factions, I shall, with perhaps much more 
reason add, that abolitionism is but a flag under which they 
unite to act with that usual madness and blindness which 
are the type of all parties. After religion and politics, 
abolitionism is a mighty agent of discord in the United 
States, and contributes to render American society sour. 

Let my readers remember an occurrence which alone is 
sufficient to unmask abolitionism; I mean the case of Ruiz 
and Montez, of which (in the supposition that some may 
not be acquainted with the affair) I shall trace a sketch. 

In the month of May, 1839, the Spanish schooner, 
Amistad, sailed from Havanna, bound to Neuvitas, a port 
of the island of Cuba, with slaves belonging to the afore- 
mentioned gentlemen, and some goods. The slaves were 
to be carried to their owners' plantations; however, the 
second or third day after the vessel was out the negroes 
mutinied, and by killing the whites made themselves mas- 
ters of the schooner. In the midst of the scuffle a sailor 
jumped into the boat astern, and making away, safely 
landed somewhere in Florida. 

By that man's declaration the horrible transaction was 
made known, and every one bew T ailed the sad fate of the 
crew and passengers, as it was then presumed that all had 
been slaughtered; however, the Africans, after a good 



MEXICO AND HAVANNA. 131 

whipping, had spared their masters with the intention of 
having them to steer to the blacks' native region. During- 
the day the Africans steered themselves South, by the sun, 
while the Spaniards steered North during the night, in the 
hope of falling in with some vessel, and unwilling, at all 
events to go far from the American coast. The Africans 
knew not the compass. In the meantime the captives were 
cruelly beaten, and threatened with instant death at every 
moment. They met with some sail, which reported her, 
and the rumor went soon abroad of a strangle looking black 
schooner, which sailed to and fro as if she had no desti- 
nation. Some small vessels were sent out immediately to 
chase the black schooner, and a revenue cutter, whose 
captain knew nothing of the matter, having casually fallen 
in with her, brought her to a harbor in Connecticut. 

Both Spaniards appeared almost crazy at seeing them- 
selves freed from such barbarous hands. One of them 
jumped to embrace his saviour, the American officer, who, 
not understanding what the Spaniard meant, drew a pistol, 
and bid him not to advance. The accounts of their suffer- 
ings were heart-rending ; the poor fellows were all bruised 
and bleeding — their situation was moving : there was, 
however, a set of people who did not sympathize with 
them — I need not say who they were — the abolitionists. 

Charmed that an ample field was offered to them for the 
display of their pseudo-philanthropy, they came out. It was 
who could rush soonest to take a glance at the negroes, and 
caress them. The assassins, who yet smelt of the blood of 
their victims, suddenly became the abolitionists' bosom 
friends, whose first cheer was — hurrah for the Africans ! 
Then they directed their attention to punish those rascals 
of Spaniards as they deserved. The murderers of the whites 
were overwhelmed with civilities. What an interesting peo- 
ple ! — for them flowers and fruit. What for the Spaniards % 
Prison ! Strange as it may seem, when prosecution was 
entered by Ruiz and Montez against the Africans, both by 
the hellish contrivance of the foaming abolitionists were put 
in gaol. Counsel flocked from all quarters to assist the 
blacks ; and he who advised Cinquez (the chief of the assas- 
sins) brought a charge of ill-treatment, assault and battery 
against Senor Ruiz, whilst the same charge was preferred 
by the counsel of another negro against Seiior Montez ; 
charges which, absurd and ridiculous as they must appear, 
were admitted by the abolitionist judge of the District Court. 
Not to deprive his charitable brethren of the pleasure of 
seeing the Spaniards safely lodged in a dungeon, the worthy 



132 A VOYAGE TO 

magistrate bound them to bail in one thousand dollars each ! 
The poor, friendless strangers could not find any person to 
become security for them, therefore to the great rejoicing of 
the friends of humanity Ruiz and Monte z were fully com- 
mitted. 

If those two poor fellows dreamed of having been rescued 
from the blacks by the Seminoles of Florida, I do not know; 
but I consider the whole a strong illustration of the Italian 
lawyer's assertion, touching the way in which justice is ad- 
ministered in this country. I would even say that few such 
shocking instances of justice being clearly on one side, and 
the judge on the other, are exhibited by the records of any 
nation. 

All papers raised a loud cry of indignation against such 
nefarious proceedings. The New- York Herald of the 30th 
of October, 1839, contained the following editorial, — " Sefior 
Ruez still remains within the Egyptian Tombs, the pious 
abolitionists having sued him for the third time in the Dis- 
trict Court. Judge Edwards directed him to find bailin 
the sum of one thousand dollars. We called yesterday upon 
him, and he informed us that it was not his intention to take 
any legal step, but to transmit his case to the Spanish go- 
vernment, and let them act in the matter. His friend Sefior 
Montez was liberated on Saturday last on filing common 
bail ; and, like a wise man, he walked immediately down to 
the East River, and put himself, bag and baggage on board 
the schooner Texas, and is now halfway to his residence at 
Neuvitas — not intending to trust himself again in this land 
of liberty far excellence. How long this war of the negroes 
and their abettors on the purse and freedom of the white 
race is to continue, will remain for some intelligent jury or 
other to say." 

Whilst Mr. Bennet and other editors with justice inveigh- 
ed against that breach of all laws, the shameless abolitionist 
papers delighted in quoting their victory. 

I do not fear saying too much when I say, the same per- 
sons who managed the affair could likewise direct the hands 
of the blacks in the bloody massacre of the whites. What 
is not a partisan capable of in the feverish excitement of his 
raving passion % Had they been rational beings, how would 
they have forgotten that to protect the blacks, as far as the 
laws of the country allowed it, had nothing to do with per- 
secuting the whites under such circumstances % But the 
fact is that the supposition of reasonableness in men acting 
under the impulse of a party spirit, is in itself insanity. 

To show still better what is to be expected by that fac- 



MEXICO AND HAVANNA. 133 

tion, I shall relate what I heard myself from two pious mem- 
bers of some church, and abolitionists. The probable event 
of a rupture between the slave and free states was the sub- 
ject. " The Southern people must seriously ponder what 
they do, for," said they, " it will be very easy for us to carry 
destruction among them ; we have but to arm the blacks to 
make them repent of any thought of separation or hostility 
against the North." 

I do not presume that more is wanting to show the Chris- 
tian and benevolent feelings of those white skins and black 
hearts. 

At the time I am writing, the civil suit in the case of the 
Spaniards to recover their property, is yet before the court. 
I shall not dwell on it ; but considering the personal seizure 
of Montez and Ruiz, as it can be termed, a most outrageous 
contempt of the laws of nations, foreigners especially will 
wonder why the president of the United States did not in- 
terfere to show that justice is not a phantom, nor a puppet 
to be trampled upon and scorned with the utmost impu- 
dence, allowing the offenders to shield themselves under the 
protection of an organized faction. What, however, ac- 
counts for the negative conduct of the chief officer of this 
country is, that a president of the United States cannot be 
otherwise but an enigmatical being or amphibious creature, 
that is to say, both for and against slavery, to please at once, 
or at least not displease the slaveholders and the aboli- 
tionists ; in short, to pick up as many votes as he can from 
the dissenting parties. A king, emperor, or any chief officer, 
not depending upon the vote of the people for his election, 
would have sent Judge Edwards and Co. to relieve the im- 
prisoned Spaniards. 

I shall now speak of slavery in the island of Cuba, or re- 
late the little I saw about it. Slaves are much worse treated 
there than in the United States. On account of the climate 
they do not want much clothing ; and their owners take so 
much advantage of this circumstance, that a single piece of 
linen, in the form of breeches or something else, constitutes 
the whole luxury of their garments; as to food, they give 
their slaves nothing else but rice boiled in water in the 
cities; and in the country, fruit, chiefly plantains, out of 
which bread is made. What masters in Havanna give their 
servants in abundance is whipping or kicking ! not a single 
day elapsed, whilst I was there, without seeing one or more 
whippings going on. Ladies, and young ladies too, have 
very ready hands at the business. There was in my hotel 
a negro boy, fresh from Africa, who pas^gtfevery day through 

N 



134 A VOYAGE TO 

at least one hundred lashes, which the landlady, a very stottt 
woman, applied, at different intervals, with a stout cowhide, 
His piercing shrieks rent my heart, but made no impression 
on a circle of young ladies amongst whom I found myself. 
The poor boy, though active and intelligent, could not please 
his mistress ; while another lady, a boarder from the coun- 
try, used to say, " If that boy were in my hands, I should 
soon get the most of him;" whereupon the landlady, sigh- 
ing, replied, "I understand you, madam; but we cannot 
deal with them in the city as in the country, where there is 
no restraint/' Once I was unable to refrain from remarking 
that I could not see how he might be more beaten, unless it 
was meant to kill him. " Oh ! you foreigners know not how 
these rogues must be managed," replied the sweet creatures. 

One of the young ladies about the house, a pretty black- 
eyed girl, very often made an addition to the poor boy's pit- 
tance by boxing his ears ; while the other servants were not 
flogged, for the only reason, I believe, that they must have 
already had their full share, since they were all crippled. 

Sweet corrections of the kind are given in the streets at 
every moment. I often looked at the convicts who, disposed 
in two rows, were breaking stones in St. Francisco's square ; 
in the midst of them walked an overseer, armed with a large 
cowhide, who, as soon as one of the convicts slackened or 
momentarily ceased working, called him back to his duty by 
a tremendous blow; not a quarter of an hour passed without 
one of such warnings. 

What I shall never forget is a volley of slaps administered 
under peculiar circumstances by a lady to a black lad. The 
clock had just struck half past ten, and I was hastening home, 
when a volante drawing nigh the side walk made me stop. 
I saw a handsome lady, in full dress of soiree alighting. At 
the roof of the portico a lamp was hanging, which spread a 
radiant light all around : notwithstanding that, a stout negro 
jumped, with a lantern in his hand, from the yard, and got 
at the volante just when his mistress was stepping out; the 
reason of course I cannot tell, but I heard her call the negro 
a villain, and rushing at the same time against him, I saw 
her making experiments of dexterity on the lad's cheeks 
with her gloved and slender hand. 

The people of the island of Cuba say they must be rigor- 
ous towards their slaves, and in part it is true ; for most of 
the negroes of that island, being newly imported, are igno- 
rant of every thing, and it is hard to make them prove of 
any service. The negroes of the United States might be 
called negro gentlemen in comparison with the blacks of 



MEXICO AND HAVANNA. 135 

Cuba; the negro exceeds by far the white population in that 
island. In Havanna there are forty thousand blacks out of 
one hundred thousand souls ; however, cruelty is not rigor, 
and let us at all events pity a necessity of which insulted 
nature complains. There are, after all, servants in Havanna 
who are treated with great kindness — among them coach- 
men, for as the chroniaue scandaleuse says, they are made to 
enjoy their mistresses' confidence, and some of their steps 
happen to be such as to require secrecy, or at least not to 
be divulged. 

In the country, although — as I was informed by a friend 
of mine, Dr. Bortolotti, who practised medicine many years 
on a very extensive plantation — slaves are held in great sub- 
jection, if they are industrious, they make money, and can, 
in a few years, emancipate themselves. 

There is between the United States and Cuba a difference 
of laws as regards emancipation. Here, a slave must be a 
slave all his life, even if he happens to possess millions, 
whenever his master refuses to free him. In the island of 
Cuba, on the contrary, a slave can constrain his master to 
release him, on paying the price at which he is valued. In 
this respect, then, slaves are better there than here; not 
many, however, think of being set at liberty in Cuba, for to 
make money they must be of course well situated ; and if 
they are so, they do not wish to give up their employment. 
Even when they are rich they do not emancipate themselves, 
to enjoy the advantage of the exemption of taxes on their 
property, so that to see slaves holding slaves is there a very 
common thing. I was shown an old negress who owned 
herself forty or fifty blacks, 

Havanna is the place to see pure African blood. In spite 
of the British cruisers, many Africans are safely landed 
somewhere on the coasts. A person who has a hand in the 
business assured me that from January to April about twelve 
thousand Ethiopians had reached the island unhurt. The 
profits of the trade have increased in the same proportion 
as the dangers. A slave-trader is now well satisfied when 
one out of three vessels makes her escape ; for, first, slavers 
put on board many more negroes than they formerly did ; 
secondly, on arriving they sell their cargo much higher than 
before ; in short, if out of three two vessels are seized, the 
merchant clears a profit of one hundred and fifty to two 
hundred per cent. Slavers are careful now in the choice of 
the craft ; only first-rate sailing hulls suit them, whilst the 
officers and crew are almost doubled. Not to lay at anchor 
on the African coast, factories are established to make the 



136 A VOYAGE TO 

purchases, so that as soon as the vessel appears, the cargo 
being ready, she does not delay more than twenty -four hours, 
even when she takes in over one thousand people. 

To control the precautionary measures adopted by the sla- 
vers, not much is done by the European governments, or 
rather by England, it being the only power that acts openly 
against that infamous trade. Some pretend that the English 
are not prompted by philanthropy, and others go so far as 
to proclaim that they take advantage for themselves of the 
slaves they seize ; but was ever in existence any act which 
escaped misconstruction ] did not envy, interest or malevo- 
lence in all times spoil even the holiest principles, and calum- 
niate the purest character ? For my part, I believe that 
the most which is said on that score against the English is 
of Havannera fabrication, and I would wish for other nations 
to join Great Britain in putting down a traffic quite incom- 
patible with the present stage of civilization. 

All large fortunes existing in Havanna were made by 
trading in human flesh. It is said that the island of Cuba 
would suffer much by stopping the African trade, or that 
its increasing prosperity would be checked ; yet even ad- 
mitting, which I do not, the correctness of such apprehen- 
sions, never ought the European powers to depart from the 
adoption of the most efficacious measures to arrest it. 

I repaired on board a small vessel which had just got in 
from the coast, where she had landed her cargo. She had 
been washed, cleaned, painted and aired ; it was neverthe- 
less impossible to stand the putrid exhalations arising from 
her hatches. She had been eighty-seven days the asylum 
of over six hundred negroes ; but a few had died by the 
way. I obtained a minute description of the voyage, which 
particulars I shall certainly not repeat, as they would make 
many a heart sink. The ancient prisons of the Inquisition 
with the Santa Hermandad were palaces, I believe, in com- 
parison with that fetid ship's hold and the treatment of the 
poor victims of human insatiableness. 

When the naked Africans get ashore they are supplied 
with some coarse clothes. Their first and most terrible 
impression, when they are put on board, is, that they are 
going to serve as food to the whites, and their apprehen- 
sions increase when they are landed ; however, they soon 
meet with some of their own tribes, who speak the same 
language, and inform them about their real destiny. A 
banquet is served up to them ; then they are conveyed to 
the barracones, or markets for the sale of slaves. There 
they are often torn from their nearest and dearest relations, 



MEXICO AND HAVANNA. 137 

never to see them again: this act of cruelty, however, is 
only practised when purchasers cannot accommodate them- 
selves otherwise — as far as their interest is not concerned, 
they avoid such separations, because they obtain much 
more from their servants by not wounding them in their 
most tender feelings. 

The common price of young Africans in the island of 
Cuba is from fifteen to twenty doubloons, and, after they 
are educated (which is equal to say after they have received 
some thousand lashes) they command from thirty to thirty- 
five doubloons : slaves, therefore, are much cheaper in 
Cuba than in the United States; which causes some clan- 
destine introduction from that island, though, I presume, 
on a very small scale, since the laws of this country against 
smuggling slaves are severe. 

I may be mistaken, but, supposing the slave trade should 
be entirely suppressed, that drawback which the people 
from Havanna fear so much would not occur : its first con- 
sequence would be the increase in value of the slaves they 
hold; the second, a greater care taken of them, whereby 
they would live longer and be much better warranted 
against the destructive influence of the climate. 

As to putting an end to the trade, some anticipate im- 
possibility; I presume, however, to the contrary. The 
English have already commenced giving chase to the ves- 
sels which, by their construction, and dealing whilst in 
in port, are suspected of being on their way to the coast of 
Africa. Well done ! 

I was on board two negreros, or slavers, las Antillas and 
el Socorro, lying in the port of Havanna, ready to sail. The 
former I could not examine minutely, but I saw well the 
Socorro, being well acquainted with the captain who pre- 
viously commanded her, and who having made a splendid 
fortune had retired. Manacles, chains, and everything else 
on board a vessel intended for carrying slaves was shown 
to me. Her crew amounted to fifty-eight persons, including 
three captains, the first and second of whom were French- 
men, and six mates. The sailors engaged in such expe- 
ditions get double pay over the usual, and are taken from 
the scum. The order which prevailed on board that vessel, 
the neatness of every object in sight, and the apparent 
dispositions of the whole, formed a sad contrast with the 
ignominious business in which she was about to embark. 

The English have in the port of Havanna a ponton, the 
existence of which shows how dejected poor Spain is; 
for what other nation would suffer a floating barrack of a 



13S A VOYAGE TO 

foreign power witliin its maritime jurisdiction 1 From that 
pied a terre the British derive great assistance in the 
harassing of the slave trade ; besides their having con- 
stantly some men-of-war in the harbor to spy the proceed- 
ings of suspicious •vessels. They watched closely the 
Antillas and the Socorro, each of which had from forty 
thousand to fifty thousand Spanish dollars on board ; yet, 
owing to the protection that slavers obtain from the people 
of Havanna, both eluded the vigilance of the English and 
glided away. 

The catching of slavers on their starting is of the utmost 
importance ; first, because it is much better to seize money 
than slaves ; then, because the sufferings of even an incom- 
plete passage would be spared the poor Ethiopians ; and, 
finally, for the deep impression which it would make upon 
the speculators, so as to deter them much more effectually 
from dealing in slaves. 

One or two armed steam-vessels added to the British 
fleet would act admirably in capturing both loaded and 
unloaded vessels. It often happens that a slayer at large 
makes signals, whereupon a steam-ship sets immediately 
out to tow her to the coast, or even to the port, since, after 
being within shot of the castle del Moro the English can 
do nothing against the slavers. 

The slavers would go to other ports for the supply of 
such tools as are indispensable to the trade, and the dis- 
covery of which makes the prize good ; but the aversion to 
that disgraceful traffic is so general, that they would meet 
nowhere with assistance or sympathy. Some masked clear- 
ances of slaves succeeded in New Orleans, owing to great 
secrecy; because, even the Americans of the slave States 
do not generally differ from European nations in the ab- 
horrence of the cursed trade. 

Now, what can a crew of fifty-eight men in a vessel like 
the Socorro, below four hundred tons, be for] Either 
slaving or piracy. The fact alone, of a merchant vessel 
having an unusually numerous crew should authorize her 
seizure, until, brought to some port, the case might be 
cleared. They would resort to the expediency (as vessels 
cleared from New Orleans did) of parading a part of their 
crew as passengers; it will be very easy, however, to de- 
tect such spurious and odd looking passengers. 

All offenders should then be punished by the government 
under whose colors they are seized. To leave the Spanish 
authorities to chastise their own subjects is a matter of 
mockery. The Spanish authorities in the island of Cuba 



MEXICO AND HAVANNA. 139 

(the governor included, who gets a doubloon for each 
slave imported) have an interest to assist with all possible 
means the trade. 

I shall relate how captains of slavers are treated in 
Havanna. They are sentenced to be confined, for so many- 
years, in the fortress called Cavana, where, after a few 
weeks, they die a very strange death — strange indeed, since, 
soon after, they are seen walking in the streets, and re- 
suming their odious avocation. 

General Tacon having heard something about it, sent for 
the inspector and physician of. the convicts. They answer- 
ed, with trembling, the summons, as none could play the 
fool with Tacon. He demanded explanations about the 
wonder of which the people of Havanna talked so often, 
and was told, of course, the whole — certain pills, not 
Brandreth's or Morrison's, but infallible pills in the form of 
doubloons, which, in opposition to established usage, the 
patient gives, in number of fifty or sixty, to the physician, 
causes the resurrection. Here is the proceeding. The 
prisoner is entered in the hospital — his pretended sickness 
lasts a few days — then he is reported to the superintendent 
of the house (who takes himself a handful of pills) as dead. 
Notice of his death is entered in the journal of the house, 
and the door of the prison is opened to the culprit. 

The party was dismissed by General Tacon, who, 
smiling, warned them against taking too many pills, least 
they might cause indigestion. Some will remark, that after 
having said so much in favor of Tacon in this case, he 
proves not the stern man such as I endeavored to describe 
him : these, however, must be the sentiments of a governor 
of Cuba. 

I left Havanna on the 7th of May, by the Spanish 
brig-schooner Salvador Procer, Captain Millet, for New 
Orleans, where I arrived on the 15th. Now, to whom- 
soever might fall in with that vessel, I would give the 
advice of never taking passage in her, unless they can 
reconcile themselves to eat like dogs, and be lodged in a 
stable-like concern. 



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